Australian prosecutors are calling for prison for the Crypto.com user who received 6.8 million dollars by mistake, arguing that a custodial sentence must remain a concrete possibility.
Let’s see all the details below.
The legal consequences for the user of Crypto.com: prison sentence
As anticipated, according to local sources, Australian prosecutors are requesting a prison sentence for a Crypto.com user.
This one mistakenly received almost 7 million dollars and spent most of it before the exchange discovered the error made three years ago.
In May 2021, Crypto.com transferred 10.47 million Australian dollars (6.86 million dollars) to the Australian couple Thevamanogari Manivel and Jatinder Singh.
This instead of a refund of 100 AU$ after an employee mistakenly entered an account number in the payment section of an Excel sheet.
When the exchange discovered the error in its internal audit of December 2021, only seven months later, Singh had already purchased several properties and gifted a friend 1 million AU$. Singh stated that he thought he had won “an online lottery”.
During the hearing on August 2, about three years after the incident, the Australian prosecutor Campbell Thomson argued that, given the amount of money involved, it could not be considered a simple mistake.
He therefore declared that a prison sentence was necessary for Singh:
“It might not be that he is sent to prison for a long time after taking into account his pre-sentence detention.”
The lawyer of Singh, Martin Kozlowski, argued that Singh did not fully understand the gravity of the situation, a difficult circumstance to face for anyone.
Kozlowski emphasized that the funds came from a multinational that had not noticed the error until a subsequent audit.
“No one knows how they would react if they found themselves in a similar situation.”
Risk of escape for Singh and the increase in crypto crime in Australia
In March 2023, prosecutors stated that Singh was a flight risk as only 4.9 million dollars had been recovered, some of which had already been transferred abroad. Singh’s sentencing is scheduled for September.
His partner, Manivel, was sentenced to approximately seven months in prison (time already served) and an 18-month community correction order after pleading guilty to recklessly handling the proceeds of the crime.
This case follows a recent increase in crime related to cryptocurrencies in Australia.
On July 15, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) reported an increase in criminal use of cryptocurrencies in its latest report on money laundering.
In particular, predicting a peak due to the anonymity and speed of transactions.
Crypto.com surpasses Coinbase in trading
On August 1st, Crypto.com surpassed Coinbase in trading volume, recording 3.6 billion dollars compared to Coinbase’s 2.12 billion.
This result, confirmed by the data from the crypto market analysis company Messari, represents an increase of 23% for Crypto.com.
The institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies has significantly contributed to this increase, positioning Crypto.com as a point of reference for numerous institutional operators.
The launch of ETF spot su ETH in the United States has played a crucial role in the recent growth of Crypto.com.
Since ETFs were approved, the exchange has recorded double-digit growth in trading activity related to its spot and perpetual products based on ETH.
Furthermore, the open interest in all crypto products has seen a fourfold increase since January, driven by the influx of institutional investors.
Even companies in the traditional financial sector (TradFi) are turning to Crypto.com to take advantage of the opportunities offered by cryptocurrencies.
At the same time, the open interest of Bitcoin has increased in the market, reaching the record figure of 39.46 billion dollars on July 29.
Analysts believe that, if institutional adoption continues to grow, the price of Bitcoin could rise to hundreds of thousands of dollars, potentially surpassing $700,000.
However, Bitcoin has shown volatility this week, approaching $70,000 only to drop to around $62,000 in the following days.