Homeless Man Found with $30,000 in Pockets

[olena]

MILAN (Reuters) - It was a rags to riches story at a hospital in northern Italy when a homeless man turned out to be carrying some $30,000 in his pockets.
The 80-year-old bearded man was checked into the psychiatric ward of the hospital three days ago when he was found aimlessly wandering around the city of Como, police told Reuters on Thursday.
The man, apparently without family, had been living in a shelter and on the streets.
But to the hospital staff's surprise, they found 10,000 euros (dollars) and 40 million lire, equivalent to another 20,000 euros, in his pockets.
"He said it was his life's savings," the police source said.
But the Bank of Italy has foiled a happy ending, by refusing to exchange the lire, which are no longer in circulation, for the euro currency because the man's identification papers expired 13 years ago.
Under Italian law, currency exchanges can only be carried out with proper identification and in many cases a tax number, which the homeless man does not possess.



That is sad.

 

[Disney845]

Interesting story. I am sure there are ways around this, and some good samaritan will be willing to lend a hand with the money exchange for him.

 

[Saffron]

That's awful!!!

I wonder why someone can't or won't exchange it for him? They would have to pay taxes on the money then, but getting back some is better than losing it all. That's just awful.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

This is an unbelievable story. How long was the homeless man wandering the streets with thousands of lira in his pocket???

 

[Jeff in BigD]

10,000 euros is still a nice chunk of change. Surely he could use part of it to get his ID situation in order?