Bankrupt exchange Mine Digital CEO was accused of stealing $1,5 million from a client

What’s new? Grant Colthup, the former CEO of Australian crypto exchange Mine Digital, has been accused of stealing AUD 2,2 million ($1,47 million) from a customer who was trying to buy bitcoins. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) specified that the customer paid the funds to Mine Digital’s parent company, ACCE Australia, but never received the cryptocurrency.

Source: X.com

What else is known? According to ASIC’s statement, Colthup used the funds to pay ACCE’s liabilities and purchase cryptocurrency for others. The company itself collapsed back in September 2022, and creditors have been trying to recover $16 million since then.

Colthup has been charged with fraud, which carries a maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years. The trial in the Ipswich court will begin on December 16.

The bitcoin exchange rate ranged between $18 890 and $24 580 at the time of the theft of funds. BTC is currently trading above $67 400 and the value of the coins never sent to a Mine Digital user is $4-5,2 million.

Mine Digital operated from May 2019 until September 2022, when it was placed under external administration. An investigation revealed that parent ACCE had only $20 000 worth of assets under its control.

In December, Brad Tonks, a partner in PKF’s consultancy, was appointed liquidator of ACCE. In January 2023, PKF intended to sue Colthup to oblige it to pay the full amount of claims to clients.

Earlier, two opposite incidents occurred in Australia: the Crypto.com exchange twice mistakenly sent huge sums of money to local users.

For example, in 2021, the exchange sent $10,5 million to a woman instead of refunding $100. By the time the error was discovered, the user had already managed to buy a mansion with this money, but the court ordered her to sell the property and compensate for the damage.

In the same year, a couple from India living in Australia received a similar amount. They spent the money to buy four houses and a car and sent part of it abroad. The owner of the account was ordered to return the money and sentenced to correctional labor.