Maine bank seeks to recover $340,000 mistakenly placed in couple’s account

BRUNSWICK – A federal judge has placed a freeze on the assets of a Brunswick couple who allegedly went on a spending spree after a North Carolina bank mistakenly transferred $340,000 into their account.

First Union Bank has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in an attempt to recover the money from Jeffrey W. and Kimberly J. Clark. No trial date has been set.

In court documents, the bank said the couple all but depleted the account, spending some of the money at shops including Victoria’s Secret, The Baby’s Room, Filene’s and the Christmas Tree Shops. Other money went to pay off credit card debt and to purchase inventory for Jeffrey Clark’s Beanie Babies business at the Cook’s Corner shopping mall.

The Clarks couldn’t be reached for comment. Their lawyer, John F. Barnicle of Topsham, said they intend to repay the bank, but the amount owed still must be determined.

“I disagree with the bank’s characterization that the Clarks went on a spending spree,” Barnicle said. “If they felt they were in the wrong then why are they still living in Brunswick? Why didn’t they just take off with the money?”

No criminal charges have been filed against the couple. Mark Terison, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said he was unaware of the lawsuit against the Clarks, but that charges in such cases could include bank fraud.

According to court documents, the Clarks were living in Georgia when they opened an account with First Union in 1999. About a year later, the Clarks bought a home in Brunswick and operated a commercial Web site.

Clark opened a Beanie Babies business and operated a Web site that sold Beanie Babies.

On Sept. 17, 2001, a company called Oklahoma Coin Exchange Inc. paid the Clarks $37,750 for the sale of the couple’s Web site. While the check was being processed at the bank’s service center, an encoding error was made and the Clarks were credited with $377,750 – a $340,000 mistake. Over the next month, the Clarks spent nearly all the money that had been credited to their account.

The bank’s attorneys, Peter J. Brann and Kevin J. Beal of Brann and Isaacson in Lewiston, contend the Clarks promised to repay the funds but never did.