After learning that a couple had unintentionally moved $750,000 (US $475,000/£423,000) to the wrong account, a 24-year-old went on a massive spending binge.
The young couple was submitting a payment for a house when they typed the incorrect number on the transfer, according to evidence presented in court in Sydney.
Abdel Ghadia admitted to two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime when he appeared in court on November 2; he had spent a significant amount of the money on anything from jewellery and foreign exchange to clothing and cosmetics.
According to court records, the Sydney couple began their search for a new home in October 2020, and by June of the following year, they were getting close to the finish line. At that point, their broker advised them to transfer $759,314 to a designated Commonwealth Bank account to complete the transaction.
The conveyancer returned, however, and informed them that the bank was unable to locate the funds, which never arrived to the designated account.
The wannabe rapper was detained and questioned by police in October 2021 while earning $4,800 per month working at a clothing warehouse. He admitted to the officers that he “simply 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.”
And he did spend it. Ghadia decided to embark on a wild shopping spree after discovering the money in his account. He started at the ABC Bullion store, where he spent $598,188 on gold bars ranging in weight from 10 oz to 1 kg over the course of six visits in June 2021.
Additionally, he paid $48,222 on gold KHC coins and $62,843 on a 10oz bar and 500g gold bullion from the Queensland-based gold dealer Ainslie Bullion.
Ghadia went to the international money market to purchase $14,490 in foreign currency because he “wanted to give gold” to someone he “liked,” as he confessed to the police after his detention.
He also took out $13,600 in cash in June and July of that year from ATMs all throughout Sydney before finally spending $6,235 at Westfield Parramatta on clothing from Uniqlo and JD Sports and makeup from MECCA.
He entered a guilty plea in September, but the DDP was forced to drop six additional counts.
He will return to court in December to get his punishment.
