Crypto.com petitions US court to uphold arbitration decision for mistakenly sent $50K

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has petitioned a Florida court to confirm a judgment in its favor through arbitration after the platform mistakenly deposited $50,000 into a user’s account.

According to the July 6 court filing, Crypto.com “erroneously deposited” $50,000 into James Deutero McJunkins’ account in June 2022, despite the user seemingly not earning the funds through trades or other activity. He immediately transferred the funds into an external bank account out of reach of Crypto.com’s authority and ignored repeated requests to return the money.

In October 2022, Crypto.com went to arbitration for the missing funds, claiming McJunkins had committed civil theft and breach of contract for his account. The arbitrator sided with the company and awarded Crypto.com $76,391.46 in April 2023 — based on the original $50,000 transaction, $1,786.11 in statutory interest, $21,205.35 in attorneys’ fees and $3,400 in arbitration costs.

Though Crypto.com “won” the proceedings, the arbitrator seemingly did not have the authority to force McJunkins to pay the exchange, forcing the firm to go to federal court for results. The July 6 petition said Crypto.com requested the Florida court “confirm the Arbitrator’s Award and enter a final judgment in its favor and against McJunkins” for the amount owed.

The case is reminiscent of an incident between Crypto.com and two Australia-based users in May 2021. In that case, the exchange reportedly sent more than $6 million to a couple’s account and didn’t discover the error until December 2021. The pair allegedly spent the bulk of the funds, claiming they believed the money was a prize from the exchange. Authorities in Australia charged the two with theft, and the case is still ongoing.

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