Whee trade! $89M richer – for 3 hours
He was the $89 million man — if only for a few hours.
Daniel Levene, a Manhattan venture capitalist, lived every day-trader’s dream on Tuesday: He awoke to find E-Trade accidentally deposited more than $89 million into his account.
“Did I just win the lottery?” he asked himself as he logged on to his computer at about 10 a.m.
Rubbing his eyes, Levene definitely saw an extra $89,900,912.00 posted to his account, he told The Post.
And no, the 50-year-old former Goldman Sachs bond trader didn’t immediate transfer the money to a Swiss account and hop a flight to the islands or some fancy tax haven. Although he did joke about it with a pal. “Let’s go to Monaco, buy a yacht, and watch the Grand Prix,” he suggested after phoning a friend.
“Obviously, I knew it was a mistake,” he said.
So the Honest Abe sent an e-mail to an ETrade customer service rep — and attached a photo of his enhanced account.
“This is interesting – Please call me IMMEDIATELY – Did I just win the Lottery???,” he wrote E*Trade.
Oddly, it took the brokerage about three hours to get back to Levene — and take back the errant cash.
E-Trade did apologize for the screw-up. It’s unclear why the $89 million landed in Levene’s lap.
When asked about Levene’s Tuesday surprise, an E-Trade rep insisted that the broker “did not process any wire transfers anywhere in the neighborhood of what is being suggested.”
But if it did, the rep continued, “to the extent any erroneous credits increase a customer account” E-Trade would “always work closely with that customer to resolve the issue.”
“In such a case, no funds would have left the firm,” the rep said.