diff --git a/ethutil/bytes.go b/ethutil/bytes.go
index d16bd67809..34fff7d42c 100644
--- a/ethutil/bytes.go
+++ b/ethutil/bytes.go
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ func FormatData(data string) []byte {
 	// Simple stupid
 	d := new(big.Int)
 	if data[0:1] == "\"" && data[len(data)-1:] == "\"" {
-		return RightPadBytes([]byte(data), 32)
+		return RightPadBytes([]byte(data[1:len(data)-1]), 32)
 	} else if len(data) > 1 && data[:2] == "0x" {
 		d.SetBytes(Hex2Bytes(data[2:]))
 	} else {