New York (CNN Business) – Citigroup lost a martial law battle March to recover $ 504 million that was transferred by mistake to Revlon performers in August. But you do not have illusions that you can deal with a part of the money if you accidentally transfer it to your bank account.
A federal law dictated that the electronic transfers made by Citi, which acted as Revlon’s agent, were “final and complete transactions, not subject to revocation.” Without embarrassment, in the Mayor of cases in which electronic transfers are received by mistake, so it is not correct. Hecho, tendriaas that turn the money or burn criminal charges.
It has to do with a right-wing doctrine of conquest as “unjust enrichment”, which generally obligates the recipient of the money transferred by mistake to transfer the money to the remit. A pair of Pennsylvania laden cargos for grave delinquents in 2019 has been accused of accidentally stealing US $ 120,000 in their account.
But there is one exception that applies in the case of Citigroup as a New York City. This case was presented by a precedent in a 1991 case in which the New York Court of Appeals ruled that if a third party sent money by mistake to an creditor, the creditor could lodge with the funds.
This exception, called a liquidation rule by value, allows the recipient to accidentally transfer funds transferred to it if the money transferred by mistake is not applied for, covers a valid debt and the recipient does not know that the payment was made by mistake.
Look at the question that was the case of the Revlon performers.
“The liquidation defense for value in the last instance is based on whether the Applicants (or, more precisely, their customers) receive a constructive opinion on Citibank’s error at the moment when they receive the electronic transfers of August 11”, says the juez de la Corte de Distrito de EE.UU. Jesse Furman in his decision. “Based on the testimony of the employees and the documentary, the court concluded that there was no such thing.”
Revlon’s spokespersons declare that the Citibank transfers are expected to pay off a pendulum, which will not be liquidated until 2023.
For this reason, the court ruled that it was reasonable for the Revlon performers to believe that the pages were not mistaken for error.
“Citibank is one of the most sophisticated financial institutions in the world. For this reason, Demandados and its customers can assume – and therefore assume – that the bank has effective internal controls to avoid important errors “, it said in the decision.
Citigroup says it intends to appeal the decision.