The cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com mistakenly deposited, on June 24, 2022, the sum of 50,000 dollars (45,300 euros) into the account of one of its clients, James Deutero McJunkins Jr. eager to transfer the money to his personal bank account. Realizing its mistake, Crypto.com struggled to get the money back, reports Blockworks.
She first tried to explain the situation to her client, by getting in touch with him. Without success. The exchange then hired a lawyer to unravel the case. In April 2023, the customer should have returned the amount he had received. But he should also have paid the lawyer’s fees. A silence which therefore cost him 76,391 dollars (69,200 euros). But again, James Deutero McJunkins did not comply.
The judge gives reason to the stock exchange
The stock market did not stop there. She then decided to take the case to court in Florida. The judge who “was in charge of the case, because the arbitrators do not have the power to force people to pay the winning party” ruled on Friday July 7 and it is against the client. The latter will have to return the money and pay the legal fees incurred by Crypto.com.
This is not the first time the exchange has made a mistake. In May 2021, Crypto.com accidentally reimbursed an Australian woman AUD$10.5 million (€6.3 million) instead of the AUD$100 she owed him. This caused a hole in the body. It was following an audit at the end of the year that the company realized the error. In the meantime, the client had used the money. She was arrested in October 2022. Her trial is ongoing.