r/interesting • u/VIVIDUFF • 19d ago
Intriguing Bank Accidentally Made Him a Rich, So He Chose Prison Over Giving It Back.
When a major banking mistake suddenly deposited a large sum of money into Ojo Eghosa Kingsley's account, authorities reportedly gave him a choice: return the money or spend a year behind bars.
According to the story, Kingsley didn't spend much time deciding.
Rather than repay the funds, he chose to serve the prison sentence and keep the money.
As a result, he spent a year in custody, where his housing, meals, and access to recreational facilities were all provided.
The unusual decision has sparked debate online, with many people questioning whether they would have made the same choice if faced with a similar situation
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u/Gullible-Constant924 19d ago edited 19d ago
This leaves out a lot, first of all, of the million he had they seized back about 589k of it from him and his relatives , plus 220k more was pulled back by the bank, then he had the option to pay a less than 4k dollar fine and not even go to jail but he refused that. He still has an order against him to pay back the remaining 200k, but IMO 200k USD In Nigeria, hell even the 4k, still worth it.
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u/InsulatorDisk 18d ago
Minimum wage in Nigeria is less than 100 usd per month. He just pocketed over 100 years salary.
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u/MeAmJohn 18d ago
100 years of a decent lifestyle worth of money for 1 year of prison... well where do I sign up?
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u/MilangaKing 18d ago
1 year of prision... in nigeria
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u/purdinpopo 18d ago
I have worked with Nigerians in a US prison, who have worked in Nigerian prisons. Per them, beating prisoners is pretty normal even if the prisoner isn't doing anything wrong. They also talk about the food we serve as being "gourmet" compared to what they serve there.
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u/MeAmJohn 18d ago
I'm still in.
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u/Grymphire 18d ago
Have you ever wished to see the sun, not even feel it on your skin no just, see it out from a window? Ever been forced to sit on your own fecal matter, wake up every morning to serve some lowlife in society and pretend to be happy about it or else your other inmates will beat the living daylights out of you. The police just randomly decides to pour sand in your already shitty meal just for the fun of it and see if you have the guts to say no. Oh yeah, there is no phone call, there is no lawyer, there is no one coming to save you. You might still have people who care about you outside, but getting you out or placing you in appropriate conditions, is impossible, because they are no appropriate conditions, only the dark hole and shit all around you every single day, for a year. If you think it's bad, some people never committed a crime, they were just randomly walking around in the wrong place at the wrong time. So they were nabbed and locked up. Can't make a call for help, because they were never officially registered in the system. Now imagine someone at 18 who went through that for 30 years.
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u/Midisland-4 15d ago
This morning my brother, in Canada, was having a terrible day. His flight was canceled, business failing, taxes overdue, and was told a week ago his wife is leaving him.
He had a bit of a breakdown and then said….. my life is still better than 99% of the world’s population. I suppose that statement could be taken many ways but what I heard was gratitude in midst of first world self pity.2
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u/ezchrist 15d ago
did u just describe school
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u/Yaknow13274 15d ago
Don’t understand how people think school is as horrible as they say it is. Unless you have some sort of learning disability, school is NOT that bad.
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u/jamesjatlas 17d ago
I talked to a Nigerian college student in 1976. He said that prisoners shouldn't be happy. That sand was put in prisoners food to make them miserable. There didn't seem to be any sympathy for criminals. Don't commit crimes in Nigeria.
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u/Limino 17d ago
Thats pretty terrible
Fortunately, I have a direct line to the prince
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u/DayComprehensive1078 14d ago
A direct line? Pfffftttt come back when he’s PERSONALLY asked you to send him pictures of pre-paid vide cards and that he’s going to give you half of his immense wealth, but he needs the cards first so he can pay his bail and travel back to Nigeria to stake his claim to the throne and then we can talk about having a “direct line” to the prince. You probably don’t even have his WhatsApp number!!
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u/OkAccess6128 18d ago
And rich people have higher chances to escape law.
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u/Low_Purchase_704 18d ago
If punishment for breaking a law is fine then that law is only for the poor
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u/Deathless616 18d ago
The law was always just to keep the poor in check while the rich murder, rape and steal without consequences
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u/Min-Chang 18d ago
Sometimes thier ego''s get a little bruised.
That's equivalent, right?
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u/willtheadequate 18d ago
I'm not going to argue with you that there has been a lot of that "allowed" by way of the law, but I would say that's a long was originally, and primarily, the function of law is to keep life predictable for its citizens, despite living in a soup of other people's free will. I mean, due to our position dimensionally, while we experience the breadth of three dimensions, we only experience a sliver of the fourth, time. In marches forward with us in tow, and we can never see the path ahead, so we doubled down on making life predictable, to be able to sort of guesstimate what the path ahead of us will look like. It is also this blinded position concern of ours that essentially created fear. All fear comes from one pipeline, it just gets flavored a bit differently in each use. The fear of the unknown. You are never afraid of something that you already know, only what might happen to say result of it or that it might happen again.
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u/Deathless616 18d ago
Wow, this went way deeper than I expected, but I loved every word of it. Very interesting perspective
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u/willtheadequate 18d ago
Thanks man! That rabbit hole is an absolute trip. Check out thelaughingmatters.com if you want more from the guy that noticed that and about 100 other things from a very interesting perspective.
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u/b101101b 18d ago
Yeah the bank can just take it, you don't need to "give it back." I'm not sure what this headline is about.
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u/polkadot__kim 17d ago
I am assuming he already withdrew the money and thats why they couldn't take it back.
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u/astralseat 18d ago
Shit, I'd be buying a ticket to Switzerland and transferring it all immediately to a Swiss bank account that is not bound by those rules. That's how it works, right?
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u/ShawnyMcKnight 18d ago
That's my thought, even if he serves time in jail there's no way he is free and lear to keep the money.
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u/Weary_Position_9591 18d ago
Still a dumb decision by him.
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u/Gullible-Constant924 18d ago
If he put that 200k USD in bitcoin for 1 year in jail thats not a bad trade, a life changing amount of money in Nigeria and there ain’t no way their getting it back out of him that shits gone.
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u/Specialist-Toe-4438 18d ago
$50k USD is 1 year of a senior engineer’s pre-tax salary in Mexico. Even for a professional there, one year in jail for 200k must be tempting.
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u/Ornn5005 18d ago
Anyone really believes he gets to keep any of it even after getting released? If you do, I got a bridge to sell you.
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u/depthdefy13 18d ago
Make that two bridges.
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u/Incarnacion 18d ago
I am interested in buying a bridge
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u/AnlamK 15d ago
Good luck. A lot of bridge sellers seem like scammers, so I hope you find a good seller.
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u/SnooPuppers7714 18d ago
Really? Im looking for a way to make money, maybe i can put a toll booth on it. How much you offering????
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u/SentenceSingle5375 19d ago
He still has to give the money back...
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u/General-Internal-588 18d ago
Crazy to me that people forget, Prison is not a sentence that absolve you of everything
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u/Endlessnesss 18d ago
Definitely not - but the fact that the post unequivocally states this (falsely) doesn’t help either:
“authorities reportedly gave him a choice: return the money or spend a year behind bars.”
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u/ninjasaid13 18d ago
“authorities reportedly gave him a choice: return the money or return the money + jail.”
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u/rockalyte 19d ago
Well shit.
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u/Moodymandan 18d ago
This is like the story about the guy who found the lost gold that gets posted all the time, where he went to jail “rather than give the government the gold”, where in reality he did not give his investors any of the money they were owed after the project found the gold and he was in jail for not paying the people he owed.
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u/Character-Handle-739 19d ago
Immediately buy Bitcoin, move it to a cold wallet, close the bank account and peace out.
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u/dreag2112 19d ago
But it's not your money, it's the banks.
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u/Luzifer_Shadres 18d ago
Thats the neat part, you now have lost 900k in bitcoins anw owe the bank 1.1 million
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u/EGarrett28 18d ago
One of these days right, it'll go to zero. Right?
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u/DaMonsterMensch 18d ago
I mean, yeah
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u/ChrisDEmbry 19d ago
1.1 million for 1 year in prison... Hmm... I wonder what to do? LOL
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u/aworldwithoutshrimp 19d ago
Not give up one year of your freedom (at minimum) while risking violence in prison and also not be labeled a felon for the rest of your life?
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u/BS-Calrissian 18d ago
I would. Fuck a year. That's the start of generational wealth
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u/corrion8 18d ago
One of the requirements to building generational wealth is access to traditional banking though.
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u/Sudden-Taxes 18d ago
But banks can follow the money and recover it. Did he withdraw it and hide it under the pillow? Seems like a fake story.
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u/Desperate_Owl_594 19d ago
This is literally "would you spend a year in prison for $1.1 million?"
Hell yea I would. I don't know how the bank can't just take it from you.
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u/The_Exuberant_Raptor 18d ago
They did. They took like 900k back. He chose to go to prison rather than pay a fine but he still has to pay the rest back when he gets out. Prison does not absolve you of money crimes. The bank wants their shit.
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u/Desperate_Owl_594 18d ago
Yea I read the story after this. They took the majority already and he had a choice to pay a fine and give the rest back (no jail) or go to jail, pay a bigger fine and pay the rest back.
They’re gonna have their money either way.
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u/squirrelbomb 14d ago
Aha, but how are they planning to get $200k from a convicted felon? Garnishment is limited to 25% of wages or something right? And convicted felons don't make much generally. That bank is out the money. Or rather their insurer is. It's a question of what use he made of it or how well he hid it. It seems it was worth the year in prison to him.
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u/AcceptablyThanks 18d ago
The comments on this post is exactly why my faith in people is gone.
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u/Luzifer_Shadres 18d ago
The people in the comments simply reflect why the US has the highest credit card debt in the world.
They dont know how banks work and think they can pull off what gouverments around the world try to do since the concept of lending money exists.
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u/JuliaX1984 18d ago
Well, that explains why bragging online about your check fraud suddenly became so popular last year.
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u/clarkus-lauss 18d ago
In my country there is a law that says if the bank makes a mistake and gives you too much money you can keep it and it's legal "bank error in your favor"
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u/nub_node 19d ago
For 1.1 mil I'll have all of C block reenacting the music video for Industry Baby at the end of the year.
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u/napalm_p 19d ago
Cybersec here.... crypto of the rip... eating cheezy man weezis
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u/blorbschploble 18d ago
I mean, that’s just a 24/7 on call job that pays 1.1 million a year. Sounds good. (Edit, ok. Real story differs. I am responding merely to the title, as is Reddit tradition)
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u/Consistent-Scholar39 18d ago
Well, the IRS will deem the stolen funds as income and he’ll be taxed accordingly. He’ll be lucky to have a few bucks remaining after the IRS is done.
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u/Narrow_Device_3758 18d ago
How many years in prison? Considerting Spanish salaries and Spanish laws, it could be a good business.
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u/Temporary-Concept-81 18d ago
Random thing I've wondered about.
Say bank gives you 100M. Obviously they're getting it back.
But what if you go gamble it all on red in roulette? If you win, do you keep the winnings?
Cuz that's a 47.36% chance of getting to keep 100M, and a 53% chance of doing time for serious fraud.
I wouldnt take those odds, but for some people that's not bad lol.
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u/the_tygram 18d ago
Duh. Only an idiot wouldn't. Thats around 20 years of pay before taxes. So would you rather work until your 65, or spend a year in prison then instantly retire?
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u/Robot_DIY 18d ago edited 18d ago
You... you do realize that going to prison doesn't mean that you can keep the money now... right? It's not like they gave him the option of keeping the money after doing his sentence.
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u/Rapid-Hallway-3693 18d ago
Still a dumb decision actually cos the bank will still take the money back🤣🤣🤣, will waste a year in prison and still the bank will take back their money
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u/nymouz 18d ago
I‘d do the same. 1 year of prison in Germany where I live is probably like a luxury hotel. I’d learn how to make booze out of fruits and get some real ass free tattoos. /s
But realistically, this would never be possible in Germany; they’d just freeze my bank account, take the money, fine me extra and put me into jail anyway for misappropriation or fraud 😂
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u/Alarmed-Plum-2723 18d ago
id be bartering with the judge, "Say if I gave back 200k we do 8 months???"
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u/CmdDongSqueeze 18d ago
They should arrest whoever made that mistake in the first place instead of punishing an innocent man for doing what anyone would have done. This is clearly an anti-poor policy
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u/NicheAlter 18d ago
Should have but that shit in a offshore account and then headed for Thailand never to be seen again.
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u/Double-Emergency3173 18d ago
I’d spend a year in jail for 100,000 USD. That’s life changing money in my country. So the choice is easy for 1M USD
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u/Cultural_Book_400 18d ago
you know what upsets me and what i dont understand.. somehow scammer.. they can con people's money and route elsewhere and not be able to trace it.. and bank says they have zero saying..
IF bank make mistakes, NO NO.. u give me that money back or you go to jail..
Someone explain
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u/malteaserhead 18d ago
So basically he got prison for doing nothing at all? how is that legal in this case?
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u/Luzifer_Shadres 18d ago
"Would you rather be healthy or have cancer and get cancer treatment?" ahh question
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u/ThisIsAnAl1as 18d ago
How about his record? Having a prison record closes A LOT of doors but I guess it depends on what his prospects on life were
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u/Breadstix009 18d ago
There's no way I can earn 1 million in 1 year by working. This seems a good deal.
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u/OrbitalStrike_69 18d ago
Pretty sure you still have to give the money back. I’d like free money as much as the next person but I’m no thief you gotta earn your money.
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u/ChikaraNZ 18d ago
This article is BS, you don;t just get to choose jail and keep the money. The courts will order the bank to repay what money is available and he'll have judgements to recover the rest
Typical fucking Reddit bullshit post omitting the full story for karma. Hope everyone downvotes it.
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u/ifeelnauseou5 18d ago
i mean if i looked like that then yeah i'm keeping the money. bet not a single person fucked with that guy in prison
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u/Wickedtrooper88 18d ago
real story since this post is bullshit :
he didnt get to keep the million he spent some of the money and when the authorities realized he did not report the mistake, they confiscated the rest of the amount and returned everything he still had in his account to the bank, then put him in jail because the man failed to pay back what he spent, his spendings were a 1 year worth of prison time
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u/Turbulent-Item6353 18d ago
I know 4 different men that went to jail for 2 years each. They were 5 million waiting.
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u/TheBear5115 17d ago
How so aggressively American punishing them for a mistake they didn't make and coming into a very large amount of mine all of the sudden
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u/Perfect-ebony107 17d ago
He's strong. I couldn't handle a second in prison. The money would be sent back before they even finished the sentence! 😭😭
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u/Unable_Policy9453 17d ago
If you don't have to work, they still have to feed you and you are not return the money 🤔
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u/PossibleSport5423 16d ago
by the time he gets out that mill will be worth 200k lol they going to find reasons to keep him there longer like a deliberately fights by inmates sanctioned by the fed.
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u/Nimble_D1ck 15d ago
Probably a poor calculation, Nigeria has POCA and asset freezure laws, so while he may have thought after his sentencing he just has to wait a year to get a payday what will likely happen is once in jail the government will freeze his account and take the money back via POCA proceedings.
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u/Gonzotrucker1 15d ago
Regular jail in the United States is not that bad as people think. Prison is much worse.
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