NYPD called to Silicon Valley Bank branch as depositors attempt to pull cash: report
Building managers at Silicon Valley Bank’s Manhattan branch reportedly called the police Friday morning after a group of tech founders showed up and attempted to pull out their cash.
Police responded after a group of “about a dozen founders” went to SVB’s Manhattan location on Park Avenue, journalist Eric Newcomer said in a Substack post. One of the founders was former Lyft executive Dor Levi, who provided Newcomer with text updates from the scene.
The incident was the latest indication of growing panic among investors linked to the tech lender, which warned of a cash crunch this week that sparked a run on the bank.
SVB blocked Levi and others who gathered from entering the building. By around 9:20 a.m. ET, building officials “called the police” and a pair of NYPD vehicles had arrived.
Levi “said the police were very friendly and instructed one person who didn’t want to leave SVB’s offices that they had to exit the building,” Newcomer wrote.
The officers “just left” afterward, according to Levy.
Levi told Newcomer that he went to the SVB branch after one of the institution’s bankers told him “to go and get a cashier’s check from the New York office if he wanted to move his funds.”
Levi reportedly added that there were “more founders coming every minute” before the police response.
The Park Avenue location is the lone New York-based SVB branch or office listed on the firm’s website.
Similarly, dozens of clients lined up to empty their accounts from a SVB branch in Menlo Park, California — an area populated by venture capitalist offices — video posted to Twitter shows.
The long line of founders stretched around the block, leaving the founders to wait in the sidewalk-less streets and in the pouring rain.
When reached for comment, the NYPD said it had no updates to share as of around 11:15 a.m. ET.
When The Post attempted to contact SVB’s Manhattan office, its general phone line rang twice and then disconnected.
SVB representatives did not immediately return a request for comment.
Newcomer said he had spoken to a “major investor who said that about ten of his portfolio companies had pulled out about $1.5 billion collectively from Silicon Valley Bank.”
“The companies put in their requests around 6 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday and got their money this morning,” Newcomer added.
On Friday morning, CNBC reported that SVB was in talks to sell itself after failing in its efforts to raise capital. “Large financial institutions” are potentially weighing an acquisition of SVB Financial, the bank’s parent.
Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund was among the institutions telling clients to pull their money out of SVB.
Before trading of SVB Financial shares was halted on Friday morning, the stock had plunged more than 60%. That followed a previous 60% plunge in Thursday trading.
Investors scrambled to withdraw their money even as the company’s CEO begged clients to “stay calm” during a conference call on Thursday.
