Man gets probation for $5M bank goof

NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A New York man sentenced to probation for failing to return $5 million mistakenly placed in his bank account said he contemplated suicide during the ordeal.

Benjamin Lovell, 50, who was originally charged with larceny, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge as part of a deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced to probation Monday in city Supreme Court over the $5 million mistakenly deposited into his account, instead of that of another Benjamin Lowell, by Commerce Bank in Wilmington, Del., in early 2008, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

"I tried four times to give it back," he said. "I met with bank executives 10 times."

However, prosecutors said Lovell did not try hard enough to return the money and spent $500,000 on a failed investment firm, $8,000 on jewelry for a girlfriend, $36,000 on dental work, $5,000 on vitamins and colonics, and $10,000 on cash gifts to family and friends.

Lowell said he lost his home and his job as a National Grid salesman due to the case and for a time contemplated suicide while facing a possible 25-year sentence for larceny.

"It's been a long, long ride," he said after the sentencing.