Well, what would you do if a bank error gave you access to unlimited funds???
That's exactly what happened to Luke Moore, a debt-ridden Australian student.
The fun started when he opened a small 'Complete Freedom' account with St George Bank. And boy, was it ever fun!
A computer error by the bank gave him an unlimited overdraft based on 'your excellent credit and balance total' and our hero decided they meant it. He plunged into a rich playboy lifestyle which included lavish vacations, a a Hyundai Veloceter for $32,000, a $91,000 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage coupe , a $169,000 Maserati,a $54,000 Stressl boat and in his own words, lots of drugs, alcohol and women. He also withdrew wads of cash which he stashed in different accounts.
He was able to pull this off for two years and spent over $1.5 million before the bank finally realized the glitch. After that, he was caught, convicted of fraud and sentenced to 4 years in jail.
But wait, there's more.
Luke Moore, 29, was released this week after spending five months in jail before he was released on bail. And, yes, he was able to overturn his conviction on appeal on the grounds that his conduct was not 'deliberately deceptive.'
Americans will be familiar with this as 'the Clinton defense' AKA lack of intent. And why not? Can Luke Moore be blamed because he thought the people at his bank decided to gift him all that money? He just thought they were being nice because, after all, he's Luke Moore. How was he to know it was an error?
So he's out, free as a kookaburra and laughing about as loudly, at least inside. As he told the Daily Telegraph he did not miss his lavish multimillionaire lifestyle “besides the cocaine, the strippers and fast cars.”
Living now with his mother in in Goulburn, New South Wales, Moore is 'readjusting to real life' but he's apparently learned an important lesson about how to pull this kind of thing off successfully.
He's now studying to be a lawyer.
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