Bank Error Temporarily Makes Man World's First

Most people on finding out that they've become rich beyond their wildest dreams would immediately splash out on a selfish purchase - a yacht, a mansion, maybe even a private island.

But when Reggie Theus discovered he had become a trillionaire thanks to a bank error, he decided to make life easy for his fellow Americans, and offered to pay of the national debt.

Sadly for the country, the bank realised its mistake, and soon took away the East Texan's $4,000,000,000,000 - dashing the States' hope of an easy fix for their financial crisis.

Mr Theus, a restaurant manager, didn't throw caution to the wind and quit his job, thankfully - he still turned up and was busy waiting on tables and co-ordinating his staff.

He told KLTV: 'I was definitely surprised when I looked in my account and saw that much money in there.

'I looked it up and there's never been a trillionaire before.'

The bank, which asked their customer not to identify them, had made the error during an online banking update.

Mr Theus' offer could not have come at a better time for the warring government, which has shutdown while Republicans and Democrats argue over raising the debt-ceiling.

 Rich beyond his wildest dreams! Reggie Theus offered to help clear the national debt

 The trillionaire didn't let the money go to his head, and he was still serving customers at his day job

While the U.S. government closure has already had repercussions from frustrated tourists turned away from national parks to cancelled stops on Obama’s Asia  trip, the deadline for raising the nation’s debt limit poses a much graver risk.

If the U.S. Congress fails to raise the $16.7trillion (€12.3trillion) borrowing cap, the U.S. would go into default, likely triggering financial market shockwaves around the world.

For now, Reggie has a way to go before he catches up with Carlos Slim Helu is the world's richest man for the fourth year in a row.

The 73-year-old Mexican was valued at $73 billion by Forbes in their annual billionaires list in March.

His wealth is believed to be based on soaring stock prices at his financial arm, Grupo Financiero Inbursa, and at his Grupo Carso industrial and retail giant. He can also thank his Pan-Latin American mobile telecom outfit, America Movil, which is worth $36.3 billion.

Source: US Mail