Photo: BMW
What would you do if you found $450,000 (€400,000) in your bank account that does not belong to you? Would you return it, like a good citizen, or just splash on a couple of BMWs? This Romanian man did the latter, and, almost seven years later, he got jail time for it.
It all started in 2015, when the manager of a company in Bucharest, Romania, Marian Raducu, mistakenly received 2,016,985 Romanian Lei (the equivalent of €407,505 / $455,000 at today’s exchange rate). The firm Raducu was managing had a contract with a construction company for a project, and the secretary had to send Raducu 8,000 lei (€1,616 / $1,800), but mistakenly sent over €400k.
When she realized the mistake, she contacted Raducu and asked him to return the money. The manager lied and said he didn’t receive that amount, but that he would investigate. She continued to contact him the same day and the next, but his phone was turned off.
Later on, an investigation showed the man had got two bank loans with another man, Eugen Plopeanu, allegedly contracted in 2010 and 2015. The repayment of loans reached their maturity on June 20, 2016, just a few days after he reportedly received the large sum.
He used the money to purchase two BMWs from Germany. He went for a BMW 6 Series Grand Coupe and a BMW X5 SUV.
After a very long trial that lasted almost seven years, the Timisoara Court of Appeal announced its final ruling, and Marian Raducu was sentenced to two years and one month of imprisonment for appropriating the money, abetting, and forgery, Romanian paper Adevarul reports. And naturally, he won’t get to keep any of the BMWs. Plopeanu, his aide, also received a year and seven months of imprisonment.
So, returning to our original question: what would you do if you found $450,000 in your bank account that does not belong to you? The only good answer is return it. And Marian Raducu surely knows that now.
When she realized the mistake, she contacted Raducu and asked him to return the money. The manager lied and said he didn’t receive that amount, but that he would investigate. She continued to contact him the same day and the next, but his phone was turned off.
Later on, an investigation showed the man had got two bank loans with another man, Eugen Plopeanu, allegedly contracted in 2010 and 2015. The repayment of loans reached their maturity on June 20, 2016, just a few days after he reportedly received the large sum.
He used the money to purchase two BMWs from Germany. He went for a BMW 6 Series Grand Coupe and a BMW X5 SUV.
After a very long trial that lasted almost seven years, the Timisoara Court of Appeal announced its final ruling, and Marian Raducu was sentenced to two years and one month of imprisonment for appropriating the money, abetting, and forgery, Romanian paper Adevarul reports. And naturally, he won’t get to keep any of the BMWs. Plopeanu, his aide, also received a year and seven months of imprisonment.
So, returning to our original question: what would you do if you found $450,000 in your bank account that does not belong to you? The only good answer is return it. And Marian Raducu surely knows that now.
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