Psst, Clooney, we found your cash

By Roy Rivenburg

Oct. 9, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

With proof of identity, Jesus Christ can collect a $28 check from the state of California. Mick Jagger is eligible for $919. Maria Shriver can pocket $258 in mystery loot. And Ben Affleck has a $1,598 bonanza awaiting pickup.

These and other celebrities are on a list of 6 million “lost” Californians who qualify for a cut of the $3.9 billion held by the state’s bureau of unclaimed property.

When a company owes someone money but can’t find them -- or when a bank account lies untouched for three years and the owner can’t be reached -- the funds must be turned over to the state’s unclaimed property division. The cash then stays in government coffers unless a claim is made by the owner or the heirs.

Think of it as a giant lost-and-found department, except the story of how this money wound up “lost” sometimes involves mind-boggling bureaucratic incompetence.

It’s one thing to lose track of an average citizen who moves and leaves no forwarding address. But how hard is it to hunt down Sen. Dianne Feinstein, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Disneyland or the Archdiocese of Los Angeles? They haven’t changed addresses in years, yet all are on the list of people and organizations whose money has been transferred -- or escheated -- to the state after they were declared “missing.”

Consider the case of billionaire developer Eli Broad. He never received a $3 check from one of his own companies, Broad Inc., because the firm apparently had no inkling of his whereabouts. The money is now being held by the state, waiting to be claimed.

Another baffling case is a $5,953 payment that was intended for the Los Angeles Times but instead went to the state’s unclaimed property bureau after the sender was unable to locate the newspaper. Who was the sender? The Tribune Co., which owns The Times.

“One of the questions that always gets asked around here is ‘How does this happen?’ ” says Paul Hefner, a spokesman for state Controller Steve Westly, whose office oversees unclaimed property. “It’s usually something of a mystery.”

California isn’t the only state with MIA celebrities. Arkansas’ unclaimed property roster includes Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. And New York can’t seem to find talk-show host Regis Philbin, football legend Joe Namath or the Trump Taj Mahal casino (hint: try Atlantic City).

Part of the problem is that state laws don’t offer many incentives for reuniting people with their lost money.

In California, for instance, banks and other institutions must make a “reasonable effort” to find a customer before relinquishing property to the state. But there’s no penalty if the “reasonable effort” never happens.

However, stiff penalties are imposed for failing to promptly forward unclaimed assets to the state. So, if a bank or utility mails a check to a customer and the letter gets bounced back by the post office, it’s easier for the company to surrender the money to the state than to search for a current address.

That might explain why Warner Bros. sent the unclaimed property bureau a string of checks intended for George Clooney ($180), Meg Ryan ($1,225), Queen Latifah ($5,126), Keith Richards ($57), director Ron Howard ($690), Daryl Hannah ($2,802) and author Ray Bradbury ($131), to name a few.

Or why Arista Records couldn’t find Stevie Wonder to pay him $7,939.

Another frequent bumbler when it comes to tracking down celebrities is Tiffany jewelers, which gave up on delivering “merchandise credits” to Ozzy Osbourne, Pat Sajak, Jennifer Aniston, Shriver and Reagan.

Most of the celebrities contacted for this story declined to comment on their unclaimed treasure. Tom Arnold, for example, was too busy hosting his cable sports show to thank us for informing his publicist about the 60-cent windfall he is owed by the Walt Disney Co.

But former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan was less tongue-tied. When told of a $91 jackpot from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, he quipped, “I’m shocked they owe me money. They probably figured they screwed up and I died.”

Riordan promised to donate half of any unclaimed funds held in his name (including $1,125 from Anthem Insurance Co.) to the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Fund. “This’ll be fun,” he said.

That’s the kind of response singer-songwriter Bob Bennett hoped for when he tipped off The Times to the abundance of celebrities on California’s unclaimed property roster.

“It would be a nice gesture if they’d give a percentage to charity,” said Bennett, who on a lark spent two nights scouring the state’s unclaimed- property database (https://sco web.sco.ca.gov, or [800] 992-4647) for famous names.

In the meantime, charities might want to look themselves up on California’s database -- and on www.missingmoney.com, a 25-state website sponsored by NAUPA, the National Assn. of Unclaimed Property Administrators.

A cursory search by The Times found thousands of unclaimed dollars owed to branches of the Salvation Army, United Way, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Red Cross and other nonprofit groups.

“We had no idea,” said Sona Chandwani, chief financial officer for AIDS Project Los Angeles, when informed of $7,000 in lost donations being held by the state. “We’re going to do our best to get the money.”

To recover unclaimed funds, the owner must jump through several hoops, submitting proof of identity and documentation for entitlement to the money. Getting a check can take several months.

Nationwide, the amount of unclaimed loot being held by state governments totals $22.8 billion, according to NAUPA. In California, the largest unclaimed sum is $369,016 from an abandoned Stockton bank account registered to Irene Luker and Sally S. Shore. (There is no time limit for filing a claim, but the state is free to use the money in the meantime.)

Some states are better than others at reuniting lost funds with their owners. Nearly half use the record-search company Accurint, which charges 25 cents to trace a person’s current address from nationwide telephone, property, DMV and other records.

In contrast, California merely checks the missing person’s Social Security number against state tax records. If an updated address is found, a postcard is sent to alert the person to the unclaimed funds (the state makes no effort to track down businesses or charities).

“About 25% of the time, we find a new address and send a notice,” said state controller spokeswoman Laura Adleman. Of those, 42% file claims.

Unfortunately, the system has two glaring flaws. Because it relies on California tax records to find new addresses, it overlooks people who have moved out of state. It also ignores people who never moved at all but whose last known address was mistakenly deemed invalid by the bank or other institution that owed them money.

In a 1999 report on “abandoned” safe-deposit boxes, The Times analyzed a sample list of 24 missing owners and discovered 12% hadn’t changed residences in decades.

Does that mean the banks failed to alert their customers before escheating the property to the state? Not necessarily. The customers might have incorrectly assumed the notifications were junk mail, said David Milby of NAUPA. “To some extent, I think the public is in on [the blame] for this.”

Divorce and death can also cause assets to be forgotten.

The deceased on California’s unclaimed property honor roll include Richard Nixon ($52.50 from Pacific Bell in San Clemente), Frank Sinatra ($92 from Warner Bros.) and Fernando Lamas ($787 from Universal Studios).

Last but not least is a collection of offbeat names entitled to unclaimed assets: Mickey and Minnie Mouse -- with a last known address in San Jose -- are owed $171 from CSG Systems Inc. Betty Crocker of Sebastopol can collect some shares of Vacu-Dry stock. And Jesus Christ is eligible for $28 from the Golden 1 Credit Union.

Noting that Christ’s last address was in Sacramento, Bennett concluded: “He’s probably not the Savior.”

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Their due

A sampling of famous names -- dead and alive -- who are owed money by California’s bureau of unclaimed property. Also listed are the original sources.

Spiro Agnew, $62, American Express

Drew Barrymore, $85, MCA Records

Kim Basinger, $504, EP Talent Services

Marlon Brando, $1,647, UMG Recordings

David Copperfield, $281, state of Illinois

Will Ferrell, $271, EP Talent Services

Merv Griffin, $36, Los Angeles Turf Club

Heather Locklear, $483, EP Talent Services

Jennifer Lopez, $537, EP Talent Services

Brad Pitt, $86, Warner Bros.

Bonnie Raitt, $217, Arista Records

Keanu Reeves, $86, Pacific Bell