MIAMI – For many bank customers, the trusted safe-deposit box has always been the best place to keep valuables.
Long-time HSBC Bank customer Steven Greenspan said whenever he needed to store something important, whether sentimental or financial, he would put it in his safe-deposit box at his branch on Miami Beach.
Greenspan said when he opened his account it was with Safra Bank, which eventually changed hands and became HSBC.
Greenspan said when the branch moved into a new space on 41st Street, the unit housing his safe-deposit box went along. Greenspan said inside, he kept documents, jewelry and precious videos of his children being born.
"Baby Greenspan number one, number two (and) number three of the sonograms," he told Local 10 News investigative reporter Amy Viteri. "I had the births!"
Thousands in bonds given as gifts over the years went into the box, as well as cash.
In all, Greenspan estimated the value at more than $100,000.
"I'm (a) first-generation survivor of the Holocaust," Greenspan said. "My dad was in concentration camps (and) my mom was in a concentration camp in Siberia. My dad always said, 'You always have to have a suitcase packed and you have to have cash put away.'"
In the summer of 2010, Greenspan said an employee at the bank asked him for a new signature card for the box. When he turned it in, he said, a manager told him the box was no longer there.
"I said, 'What are you talking about?'"
Greenspan said the bank told him several stories. A contractor had moved out the unit, which, one day was apparently in New York. Then the bank told him it was in a warehouse in Miami. Eventually, the bank said the box was simply gone.
"I asked the name of the company that took the box," Greenspan said. "Oh, they couldn't tell me. But they went bankrupt."
The bottom line is, if the bank was careless, it could be held liable, said David Weinstein, an attorney with Clarke Silverglate, P.A.
"It seems very unusual for it to just disappear," Weinstein said. "If the box owner can show (the bank was) negligent in how they accounted for the boxes, (or) if they didn't take care to watch where they were going, (the bank might be liable)."
Greenspan was not the only one affected. The bank said the whole unit with several other people's boxes was removed.
The bank had also fired the senior branch operations manager over the missing boxes.
That manager, Isabel Knowles, sued HSBC after working 29 years with no disciplinary actions. According to the lawsuit, she was terminated because she "released safe deposit boxes without authorization."
But documents show Knowles claimed her manager was the one who authorized the removal. She said she tried to reach him to question the decision, but he was "unreachable."
Yet, she said, that manager was not "selected for termination." In 2012, the case was dismissed after HSBC settled with Knowles.
"Slowly but surely, anyone who has any (knowledge, or) who worked on this -- they all just seemed to vanish into a dark hole," Greenspan said.
When he asked what happened to Knowles, staff told him she retired.
No one at the bank branch would comment on camera. Rob Sherman, U.S. head of media relations for HSBC, emailed the following statement:
In 2010, there was an incident at the Miami Beach branch where a contractor removed some safe-deposit boxes in error. At the time, we contacted affected customers to apologize for this very unusual situation and asked that they provide an affidavit describing any missing contents. Returning a completed affidavit was the first step for HSBC to take action on a customer claim.
Greenspan, still a customer with HSBC, filled out his affidavit in 2015 but said he is still waiting for the next step in the process.
"I know I've been lied to a lot, and that's really upsetting," he said.
Weinstein said to protect themselves, customers should always get a copy of the contract for a safe-deposit box, as well as keep an inventory and photographs of all contents.