This was the type of windfall that investors flocked to at every rally on Wall Street: $ 1,205,619.56 ended up inexplicably in February in the brokerage account of a 911 shipper in Louisiana.
But the next day, when Charles Schwab wanted to recover the money he had accidentally poured into Kelyn Spadoni’s account, authorities said about a quarter of the funds were already gone. The company said for about a month that calls, emails and text messages to me. Spadoni remained unanswered.
The money was transferred to another account and by me. Spadoni used to buy a house and a Hyundai Genesis sports vehicle, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. She was arrested on April 7 on a charge of fraud and theft and released the same day as a dispatcher, the sheriff said.
In a lawsuit filed by Mrs. Spadoni sued in federal court in New Orleans, Charles Schwab said it only had to move $ 82.56 to the Fidelity Brokerage Services account, but that a software error mistakenly transferred the seven. figures as.
“I think most people understand how much money is in their bank accounts,” said Capt. Sheriff’s spokesman Jason Rivarde said in an interview Monday. “If you expect $ 80 and $ 1.2 million, there’s probably something wrong.”
Me. Spadoni, 33, of Harvey, La., Is charged with bank fraud, illegal transfer of funds and theft of more than $ 25,000, authorities said. She was a dispatcher in the congregation just outside New Orleans for four and a half years.
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She did not immediately respond to phone and email requests Monday, and there was no report that she had a lawyer.
Me. Spadoni was released on a $ 150,000 bond on Thursday, according to Captain Rivarde, who said a vast majority of the missing money had been recovered.
A spokesman for Charles Schwab said in an email on Sunday night that the company was working fully with the authorities in an effort to resolve the issue, but declined to comment further.
According to the company, Ms. Spadoni opened the brokerage account in January and the excess cash was added to a transfer request she made in February.
Realizing the mistake, Schwab tried to reclaim the money through a computer system, but he received a message saying, “Cash is not available,” the lawsuit said. A second attempt was also rejected, and Schwab received a message saying, “Insufficient funds, please work directly with the client to resolve.”
A Schwab employee called Spadoni four times but could not leave a message during two of the attempts because the answering machine was full. A corporate lawyer for Schwab then sued Mrs. Spadoni called the sheriff’s office, but according to the lawsuit, she was not available, which means he sent several text messages at the time.
In his lawsuit, Schwab said he was suing Ms. Spadoni has started with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, but that it will take two months before the case is settled. The company said it filed the lawsuit because it wanted to make sure Ms. Spadoni did not spend the erroneous transfers before the arbitration hearing.
“If you take something that obviously does not belong to you,” Captain Rivarde said, “it would be theft.”
Kitty Bennett contributed research.