A man in Oakland, California walked into a Bank of America and deposited a cashier's check of $33,000, handing it to a teller. A few hours later the bank closed down, unbeknownst to him, and unbelievably his money seemed to disappear right along with it.
The man, Brian Leonard, didn't realize there was a problem until the next day, when he checked to see if his deposit had posted. It hadn't, so he called the bank.
"The woman said that there was no record of the transaction. So as far as she was concerned, no transaction happened," he told ABC7.
"You're telling me that Bank of America lost $33,000 of my money, and you're telling me right here to my face, there's nothing you can do?'" he said to the banker.
To which the banker responded, "That's right, sir.'"
After going to three different brick-and-mortar Bank of Americas (two which he discovered upon arrival had just shut down), and continually getting told there was nothing the bank could do, Leonard took his story to the local KGO-TV station. And then, of course, Bank of America instantly developed a new spring in its step.
From ABC7:
"When I realized the branch was closed, and the teller that took my $33,000 cashier's check is nowhere to be found, my heart sank into my stomach… I felt like I just saw the boat leaving the dock and my money's on the boat," he said.
Leonard went to another branch, only to find the doors locked there too.
"It was closed permanently, so that's when I started getting very nervous; wait a second, the branches are closing, the people I've had contact with… gone," he said.
He went to a third branch. It was open — but the manager didn't help.
"He said, there's no record of the transaction. So there was nothing he could do," Leonard said.
Leonard showed him the cashier's check and deposit receipt — proof of the missing money. "I said, 'You're the manager, can you escalate the issue.' He says, 'No, there's nothing I can do.'"
But there was something Leonard could do. He contacted the bank's CEO, the federal government, and KGO-TV.
"And you know, that ball started moving quickly," said Leonard.
Just a few hours after he contacted KGO-TV, the bank snapped into action, calling Leonard and kindly telling him the $33,000 was on its way.
