The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has charged Grant Colthup, the ex-CEO of defunct crypto exchange Mine Digital, with one count of fraud after one of the exchange’s customers deposited $1.47 million (A$2.2 million) for BTC but has not received the cryptocurrency paid for since July 2022.
$1.47 Million Disappears
As the ASIC revealed, Mine Digital was only functional for 40 months, between May 2019 and September 2022, when it operated a digital asset exchange platform under ACCE Australia Pty Ltd (ACCE), offering crypto trading services to clients.
According to the Australian watchdog, the client paid the money to ACCE expecting to get bitcoins in return. However, Colthup used the deposited funds to pay for his company’s liabilities or purchase crypto for his firm instead of crediting the customer with the equivalent crypto tokens.
The Magistrate Court of Ipswich has not decided what punishment or prison sentence Colthup deserves. Thus, the case has been adjourned to December 16, 2024.
Not First Allegation
This is not the first time Colthup or Mine Digital has drawn the attention of legal authorities to its crypto trading services due to its unclarified transactions record.
Following its collapse in 2022, the firm recorded only $20,000 in assets under management (AUM). However, creditors claimed to have lost about $16 million to the liquidated exchange.
From Boardroom to Cell Block
Considering the charges against Colthup, he may end up like former executives of the defunct crypto exchange FTX, which also collapsed in 2022.
FTX’s CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, received a 25-year prison sentence with three years of supervised release and $11 billion confiscation after he was found guilty of six counts of fraud and money laundering, which led to the collapse of his once-very big crypto exchange.
After pleading guilty to conspiracy charges, Bankman-Fried’s ally, Ryan Salame, was sentenced by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams to 7.5 years in prison and an $11 million fine.
On the other hand, Nishad Singh, a former FTX engineering chief, pleads for mercy and wants the court to spare him a prison sentence. He promises to cooperate with the authorities to identify others involved in the act.
