Jess Hardiman
A 24-year-old went on a huge spending spree after finding that a couple had accidentally transferred $750,000 (US $475,000/£423,000) to the wrong account.
A court in Sydney has heard how the young couple were submitting a payment for a house when they entered the wrong number on the transfer.
Appearing at Burwood Local Court on Wednesday (2 November), Abdel Ghadia pleaded guilty to two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime, having spent large portions of the money on everything from clothes and makeup to gold bullion and foreign exchange.
Court documents show that the Sydney couple were attempting to buy a new home in October 2020, and were nearing the final stages of the process by June the next year – at which point their broker told them to transfer $759,314 to a nominated Commonwealth Bank account to finalise the purchase.
However, the conveyancer came back to them to say that the bank wasn’t able to find the money, which never made it to the specified account.
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The aspiring rapper - who had been earning $4,800 a month at a clothes warehouse - was apprehended and questioned by police in October 2021, telling officers he ‘just woke up and saw the money'.
“The money just dropped into my account and I spent it,” Ghadia said.
“I had no idea how it got there, and I told the bank, but I did go and spend it.”
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And spend it he did. After waking up to find the cash in his account, Ghadia decided to go on a wild shopping spree, starting off at the ABC Bullion store, where he spent a total of $598,188 on gold bars ranging in weight from 10oz to 1kg, with the purchases stretched out over six visits in June 2021.
He also spent $62,843 on a 500g gold bullion and 10oz bar at Queensland-based gold dealer Ainslie Bullion, as well as $48,222-worth of gold KHC coins.
According to the Fairfield Advance, court documents have revealed that the gold Ghadia bought has still not been located by police.
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Ghadia ‘wanted to give gold’ to someone he ‘loved’ - which he admitted to police upon his arrest – so he delved into the international money market to buy $14,490 in foreign exchange.
Between June and July that year, he also withdrew $13,600 in cash from ATMs across Sydney before finally splashing out $6,235 on clothes from Uniqlo and JD Sports and makeup from MECCA at Westfield Parramatta.
In September, he pleaded guilty but had six other charges withdrawn by the DDP.
He is due to return to court in December to be sentenced.