LI Couple Claims $25,000 Disappeared From Account, Sues Chase Bank

HUNTINGTON STATION, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island couple has filed a lawsuit against Chase Bank after they claim $25,000 deposited in to a savings account has disappeared.

As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported, Anna and Salvatore Russo, who are both in their mid-80s, said they claimed they deposited the money with the bank 14 years ago. But when they went to withdraw the cash in 2014, the money was gone, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.

The couple opened a savings account with Chase Bank in 2002. The deposit was recorded in a passbook as $30,000, and there was just one withdrawal of $5,000.

But when they went to cash in, Anna Russo said she was told, "No, Mrs. Russo, you have no money in the bank."

So what happened to their remaining $25,000?

"I said, there's got to be somebody in that bank that knows about my money," Anna Russo said. "But nobody knows."

"They can't explain it, and they feel that they don't have any no obligation, even though we have a book," said Salvatore Russo.

Chase has a record of their initial deposit, but cannot find a current account.

"We don't retain records for more than seven years and the customers have not been able to provide any documentation that proves their claims," JPMorgan Chase spokesman Eric Timmerman said in a statement. "We are continuing to look into this to try and find more information."

And with no activity in an account for five years, the bank claims it would have sent letters before closing an account and turning unclaimed funds over to the state. But the state has no record of the Russos' $25,000 either.

The Russos claim they never got any letters or bank statements either.

"We got the book," Salvatore Russo said. "That's the proof that we have the money."

And with an old-school passbook account, there are no statements.

"When you have a passbook savings, you don't get a statement," said the couple's daughter, Sallyann Russo. "That's the difference."

Attorney Ken Mollins said the couple has no choice but to sue.

"We can't have Chase just losing people's money and then relying on the fact that they don't keep records," Mollins said. "It's wrong, it's improper, and it violates the law.

The Russos said they have already given it nearly two years for the bank to figure out what happened to the money, which was for their children.

"I'd rather give it to them than give it to the bank," Salvatore Russo said.

A spokesman for Chase Bank would not say if this was an isolated incident.