A lawsuit stemming from a misdirected funds transfer serves as a reminder for clients to mind their Ps and Qs — or, more to the point, account numbers — when moving money. It may also offer a cautionary tale on the potential pitfalls that can come with modern financial technology's ease and convenience.
LPL Financial customer Mark Ishimatsu asked the firm in June to withdraw $200,000 from his account and transfer it via Automated Clearinghouse, or ACH, to a Fidelity client using forms prepared by LPL Financial, according to the complaint.
One digit was missing from the intended recipient's account number, however, which meant the money erroneously landed in someone else's Fidelity account, and that person soon shifted the funds to Wells Fargo, according to the lawsuit, filed Wednesday against the accidental recipient in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania.
Six days after the requested transfer, Ishimatsu, a California resident, asked LPL to reverse the transaction when his intended recipient, Haley Glor, didn't receive the money in her Fidelity account, the lawsuit contends.
LPL informed Ishimatsu that the routing number he had designated for transfer to Fidelity Investments was correct but that he did not designate the correct Fidelity account number, the complaint says.
In July, after attempts to recall the money failed, LPL employees recommended that Ishimatsu file a fraud report with Fidelity to release customer information for the account that erroneously received the $200,000, the suit says.
The next day, Fidelity informed Ishimatsu the money was no longer in the receiving account and that the account holder had withdrawn the funds, the complaint contends.
An August subpoena to Fidelity indicated that an account for Juan L. Acevedo of Reading, Pennsylvania, received the $200,000 that was intended for Glor, the suit alleges. Fidelity's records demonstrate that Acevedo's account received a $200,000 deposit from LPL on June 5, according to the civil complaint against Acevedo.
