A woman was arrested after she refused to give back the $1,2 million that was mistakenly wired into her account.
Kelyn Spadoni, 33, from Louisiana, was arrested on charges of theft amounting to over $25,000, bank fraud, and illegal transmission of funds.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested Spadoni —a former sheriff’s dispatcher— after she accidentally received more than $1.2 million in her brokerage account with Charles Schwab. She is currently being detained at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on a $50,000 bond.
The former dispatcher is accused of transferring the funds that weren’t hers, to another account and using it to buy a new house and car.
The authorities said that there was an accounting error at Charles Schwab which lead to a wrong deposit to Spadoni’s account. They added that the transfer was supposed to be only $82, and not $1.2 million.
When Charles Schwab attempted to get the funds back, the reclaim request was rejected because Spadoni already moved the funds to her other account.
“She has no legal claim to that money,” Captain Jason Rivarde of the sheriff’s office said. “Even if it was put in there by mistake, it was an accounting error.”
On Tuesday, Charles Schwab sued Spadoni in federal court saying they tried contacting Spadoni numerous times to return the funds back, but they were unsuccessful.
According to Rivarde, only 7% of the money has been reclaimed.
The brokerage firm’s lawsuit also claims Spadoni’s account in Schwab includes a clause stating that if a client receives an overpayment, they are legally required to return the full amount.
“If someone accidentally puts an extra zero on a utility payment, they would want that money returned or credited to them,” Rivarde added. “This is no different.”