The former CEO of the company behind defunct Queensland digital asset exchange Mine Digital has been charged with criminal fraud in the wake of an investigation by corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
Grant Colthup, who was CEO of ACCE Australia Pty Ltd, appeared in Ipswich Magistrates Court on Monday charged with one count of fraud by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, following a referral from ASIC.
ASIC alleges that a customer of Mine Digital paid $2.2 million to ACCE for Bitcoin in July 2022, but never received any cryptocurrency. The corporate cop also alleges that Colthup used the funds to pay ACCE liabilities and/or purchase cryptocurrency for others.
ACCE traded as Mine Digital, for just over three years from May 2019, running a cryptocurrency exchange.
The Queensland-based exchange and brokerage collapsed and was handed to administrator Brad Tonks of PKF in September 2022. The failure occurred just weeks before the collapse of US exchange FTX.
Subsequent investigations by administrator Brad Tonks, who was looking for $16 million owed to creditors, raised concerns about limited records, balance sheet irregularities and just $20,000 in assets.
“Based on information obtained to date, it appears that prior to the administration significant digital assets may have been transferred out of the company to the accounts for which we hold limited records and that require further investigations,” the PKF partner wrote to creditors following his initial 2022 investigation.
“Investments made by clients into digital assets do not appear to have been recorded on the company’s balance sheet.”
Three of the company’s directors had resigned in July 2022.
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