What would you do with a million dollars? Two million dollars? What if—by some glitch or miracle—you found yourself with real money? It’s a question most have asked themselves and for one Australian law student the answer was simple: blow it all on strippers and cars.
A technical glitch in his bank account allowed Luke Brett Moore to withdraw from his bank account, producing a limitless overdraft.
At first, Moore used the opportunity to pay off some of his home loan. Eventually, it led to Moore spending an excess of $1.5 million (nearly $2.1 million in Australian dollars) on a Maserati, a £10 note made by street artist Banksy, a speedboat, and a Michael Jordan-signed basketball journey, among various other items.
https://twitter.com/eBayDownUnder/status/806520078929776640
As Moore tells it: “I went to strip clubs and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on girls, alcohol, cocaine and whatever else.”
When the bank eventually discovered the error, Moore was arrested at his home, and charged with obtaining financial advantage by deception and living off the proceeds of a crime. That crime carried a maximum sentence of four and a half years.
While in jail, Moore studied law, learning the ins and outs of his particular crime. He was able to construct an argument for his acquittal, one that the judge eventually accepted.
“As far as the law is concerned in Australia at the moment I had no legal obligation to inform the Bank of what was going on. The judge said I was dishonest, but we don’t live in a society where moral wrongs result in people being locked up behind bars and their liberty taken away from them.”
Moore is now a law student and doesn’t miss the high life. Though it brought him strippers and blow, the money didn’t deliver him happiness.
As he told the Huffington Post: “I’ve had my moment in the sun. I’ve lived the high life for a bit, had my 15 minutes. Now I just want to concentrate on my studies, leading a ‘normal life’ and doing what I can to make the world a better place.”
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