Man finds $10,000 in Chanel bag on New York City subway platform

Richard Taverna returned the spoils once he realized it was so much money.

December 22, 2018, 6:50 AM

The New York City subway system is badly in need of an infusion of cash. Police would prefer not dropping off $10,000 at your local station, though.

Richard Taverna came into the possession of just such a "donation" on Thursday morning at the Lincoln Center-66th Street 1 train stop when he found a Chanel purse sitting unattended on the platform. The commuter scooped up the stray bag, saw a note inside written in Russian and took it home with him.

That is, until he realized it was stuffed with $10,000 in cash.

PHOTO: Richard Taverna found a Chanel bag filled with $10,000 in cash at the 66th Street-Lincoln Center 1 train stop on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.
Richard Taverna found a Chanel bag filled with $10,000 in cash at the 66th Street-Lincoln Center 1 train stop on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.
WABC

"I picked it up to see if there was an identification so I could get it to the right person," Taverna told New York ABC station WABC.

"I opened the envelope, and there was a big stack of money," he said.

A big stack as in a hundred $100 bills.

Taverna went to police with the bag, and the money, in order to reunite it with its rightful owner.

PHOTO: Richard Taverna laid the $10,000 in cash out on his table before returning it to police. He found the money in a bag at a subway stop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.
Richard Taverna laid the $10,000 in cash out on his table before returning it to police. He found the money in a bag at a subway stop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.
WABC

"It wasn't mine. If someone lost $10,000, they're probably going through a lot of distress," Taverna said.

The purse has now been reunited with its owner, according to police.

A woman who lives in Manhattan but was traveling to Russia left the cash on the platform by accident, and came to the 20th Precinct looking for her bag, WABC reported.

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