domestic wire transfers and recalls

I've initiated a wire recall, after accidently transferring money from my New York acct into the recipient's Illinois acct. I've been in touch with the recipient who have been aware of the error, and who "claims" to have signed the forms at her bank authorizing the debit of the monies back to my acct. But almost 3 months later, I still can't get my money back.

The recipient have "had issues" with her bank, in trying to return the money to me. I don't have the exact details, 'cause herself and her lawyer will not tell me any specifics, nor will her bank, who the recipient tells me have my money now in a holding acct. No one from her bank, nor her lawyer, have called or written me to explain why they can't send back my money. The recipient have supplied them(her bank, her lawyer) with my case number for the wire recall from my bank. It shouldn't take her bank 3 months to confirm and verify that its from my NY bank acct.

My bank have also been sending wire msgs, (I'm told this is how they confer with other banks as its a secured line) to find out what the issue is or to respond to the wire recall, and my bank have now escalated the wire msgs, but the recipient's bank or its main office, have refused to respond. Its very unusual.

How can I pursue this further? As far as I'm concerned, the recipient still have my money, and I'm about ready to call the police on her for theft, considering she have been aware this entire time.  I will probably need a lawyer now to help me sift thru the issues. But will I need a NY lawyer or one from Illinois where my money is now located?

What is the best course of action, as I fail to see why her bank won't confirm the wire recall with my bank, and the recipient's bank do not want to talk to me as I don't have an acct with them?

I want to get more aggressive and resolve this matter as soon as possible. My bank is Citibank, and the recipient's bank is Chase.

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

How does one "accidentally" wire transfer money to somebody else's account?

I can read the writing on the wall from here.

She's not giving you the money back.

Delay is the deadliest form of denial.

It's not theft, though (you gave it to her), and the police won't give you the time of day because it's a civil matter.

If you want to get aggressive you serve her with a lawsuit.

If you expect to have any court leverage over her you'll have to sue where she and the money is and that's where the lawyer's got to be if you hire one. And, no, you don't get your travel costs or lost time from work.

File a complaint with the FTC (Federal Trade Comission), go to their web site. As soon as you file a complaint it will go to the Illinois General Attorney, he will send letters to the Bank, they will sure send your money back in a rush..!!

Believe me, banks are very slow when you file a claim..but when the Goverment gets involved in the case, they will rush !!

MDPA:

How can I pursue this further? As far as I'm concerned, the recipient still have my money, and I'm about ready to call the police on her for theft, considering she have been aware this entire time. I will probably need a lawyer now to help me sift thru the issues. But will I need a NY lawyer or one from Illinois where my money is now located?

You transferred the money to her account so this is not an issue of theft—she didn't take it from you. Perhaps an issue of criminal conversion, but even that is probably a stretch without more facts. You can make the complaint, but the chances are that the police will simply see it as a civil issue and not do anything. But it doesn't take long to do it. You'd make the complaint with the police where she's located.

You can also report the problem to her bank's primary federal regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). You can find the information you need at OCC contacts. Similarly, you can contact the IL Division of Banking. However, it's not clear that her bank has violated any banking rules. If she told her bank to wire the money back to you, I suspect the bank would promptly do that—no reason not to do that. As a result, i strongly suspect that the problem is with the customer. And unless her bank knows for sure that the money doesn't belong to her, it won't wire the money back to you and expose itself to the risk of liability to her if it turned out to be wrong. I don't see that as violating any banking rules.

Again, it can't hurt to file the complaints and see if anything comes of them. Just don't expect that they will do the work of getting your money back for you. If you want your money back, the reality is that you will likely have to sue her to get it. You'll need to do that in IL state courts or, if the amount involved exceeds $75,000, in federal court in IL. But it's going to have to be in IL unless she has sufficient contacts with NY to make her subject to jurisdiction in NY. Contact an IL lawyer for help with suing her.

orion22:

File a complaint with the FTC (Federal Trade Comission), go to their web site. As soon as you file a complaint it will go to the Illinois General Attorney, he will send letters to the Bank, they will sure send your money back in a rush..!!

No. First of all, the FTC has no regulatory authority over banks. It cannot help with this. If you want to make a complaint to a federal agency, make it to the one that does regulate the bank and can do something if any rules have been broken. In the case of her bank, that is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) because it is a "national bank" meaning it has a national bank charter, not a state bank charter.

Second, the state level office to complain to is the IL Division of Banking. Again, they are the ones that have enforcement power over the banks in that state.

Third, it is not clear that any of these agencies will act under these circumstances. It's not clear that any banking rules have been violated. Her bank will protect its interests within the rules and not send the money back unless she directs them to send it back or they clearly establish she had no right to the funds. Just getting a government inquiry will not necessarily prompt the bank to "rush" to send the money back. If the bank concludes that all the rules were followed, that's what they will tell the regulator.

In the end, this is very likely to be a civil matter between the poster and the person who got the funds. But, of course, we don't have all the details, either. I suspect there is something more to this than has been mentioned in the post. As someone else asked, how was this mistake made in the first place?