The bank lent me $2m so I spent it on strippers and cars

[serious_pete]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-38308842

[nessness]

It was never his intention to not pay the money back? Really??? How exactly did he think he was going to pay it back.

Doesn't sound like he's learned much, since he's still blaming the "system."

[patrickza]

Imagine being 22 with pretty much unlimited credit... I wonder what interest rate he was being charged. I would have tried to draw it and invest it at a better rate then pay it back when they came knocking.

[BTDretire]

He must have really been living the high life (in more than one way)
to have spent $2 million in just over two years!

[BTDretire]

Imagine being 22 with pretty much unlimited credit... I wonder what interest rate he was being charged. I would have tried to draw it and invest it at a better rate then pay it back when they came knocking.

With $2 million he could have stuck it under a rock and said he spent it all.

[FIreSurfer]

This is just begging to be made into a movie, bet he gets a cool two million for the book/movie deal......but will he have to use that to pay back the debt?

Judging from the slap on the wrist from the courts.....guessing not.....

[BFGirl]

Looks like he was acquitted of criminal charges.  Will be interesting to see if a civil case is pursued.

At least he figured out he wanted to be a lawyer :)

[Prairie Stash]

Looks like he was acquitted of criminal charges.  Will be interesting to see if a civil case is pursued.

At least he figured out he wanted to be a lawyer :)

I would guess not, he has no assets. It would be a simple thing to declare bankruptcy after losing the civil case. So if the bank did pursue and won they still wouldn't get anything.

You can't sue poor people.

I'm guessing the argument he used to get acquitted was it was similar to the bank loaning him 2 million. They failed in their due diligence to screen him, which is their own fault. There's no law saying banks are protected from their own stupidity; its their responsibility to screen loans. 

[Syonyk]

...its their responsibility to screen loans.

And, apparently, the government's responsibility to bail them out when people collectively wake up the fact that no matter how you slice, dice, and repackage it, mortgages given to people with no income and no ability to repay them does not make an A grade investment!

[talltexan]

Maybe I didn't read the story correctly, but it sounded as though he had a small business that he was using to sell many things he bought. could he have somehow thought he was putting the money into that business? Which is kind of like investing a portion.

[Renegade23]

Imagine being 22 with pretty much unlimited credit... I wonder what interest rate he was being charged. I would have tried to draw it and invest it at a better rate then pay it back when they came knocking.

Actually from the sound of it they were just letting him overdraw his account to infinity. So he probably wasn't paying interest, and he withdrew the money in a half dozen transactions. So $30 overdraw fee * 6 transactions= $180. $180/$2,000,000=.009% or thereabouts. Not bad.

[appleblossom]

Imagine being 22 with pretty much unlimited credit... I wonder what interest rate he was being charged. I would have tried to draw it and invest it at a better rate then pay it back when they came knocking.

Actually from the sound of it they were just letting him overdraw his account to infinity. So he probably wasn't paying interest, and he withdrew the money in a half dozen transactions. So $30 overdraw fee * 6 transactions= $180. $180/$2,000,000=.009% or thereabouts. Not bad.

It's likely that his account wasn't set up properly, so it is possible that he wasn't paying interst, but overdrafts as a rule have interest. The difference generally comes down to whether they are arranged or unaranged. Unarranged are often up to the same as credit card (start at mid teens).
https://www.stgeorge.com.au/personal/personal-loans/personal-loan-interest-rates

I read an article that said that he had transferred approx $1.1mil to another account that they did recover, so he didn't blow the full 2mil, but still it was a good effort.

[691175002]

Yeah I'm really not seeing how this could be criminal.  The bank made a technical error and effectively loaned this guy money without screening him.

I don't see why this isn't getting treated like any other personal bankruptcy.

[talltexan]

If I could just have a pot of $2 million that someone forgot about for...seven years, I'm good!

[vern]

If I owe you a hundred dollars, I have a problem.

If I owe you a million dollars, you have a problem.

[Bumperpuff]

And cocaine, he mentioned buying a lot of that too.

Apparently he's not the only one this has happened to.  Somewhere here is a story of a woman in Australia spent nearly 5 million in overdraft.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3590558/The-shopping-list-Christine-Lee-spent-4-6million-accidental-overdraft-revealed.html

My favorite part was this:
"a court heard that, although the police fraud unit had started their investigation into the withdrawal of the money in 2012, they only issued the arrest warrant on March 4 this year [2016]."

How did they never contact the bank? I would think that would be the first thing you do in fraud cases. I'm willing to hold the police at least partially accountable for the money withdrawn after their investigation began.

[Metric Mouse]

And cocaine, he mentioned buying a lot of that too.

Apparently he's not the only one this has happened to.  Somewhere here is a story of a woman in Australia spent nearly 5 million in overdraft.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3590558/The-shopping-list-Christine-Lee-spent-4-6million-accidental-overdraft-revealed.html

My favorite part was this:
"a court heard that, although the police fraud unit had started their investigation into the withdrawal of the money in 2012, they only issued the arrest warrant on March 4 this year [2016]."

How did they never contact the bank? I would think that would be the first thing you do in fraud cases. I'm willing to hold the police at least partially accountable for the money withdrawn after their investigation began.

Yeah, I was going to link this other article. Be a good time to open up an Australian bank account; might just get lucky.

[Tjat]

I was just unlucky I guess that it happened to me.

Umm what?

[plantingourpennies]

...and the rest I just wasted.

[Metric Mouse]

...and the rest I just wasted.

Snap. :D