Billionaire sues ex-employee over alleged theft

Billionaire sues ex-employee over alleged theft

Tue, August 11, 2026 at 3:50 AM GMT+3 1 min read

Russell Wilson is the billionaire founder of CoinSpot, one of Australia's largest cryptocurrency trading exchanges. Founded in 2013, CoinSpot reported a $270 million net profit in the 2025 financial year.

On Aug. 10, a local media outlet reported that he has sued an ex-employee for allegedly stealing around $500,000 from the exchange.

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The court documents filed by CoinSpot's parent company, Casey Block Services, claim that customer support team member Iresh Pawan Perera moved $478,932 out of the company into his personal bank account across 76 transactions in the two years to March.

The lawsuit claims Perera converted CoinSpot's digital currency for "his own use by exchanging it" into cash. His job was terminated immediately on March 9 because the alleged misappropriation of funds amounted to "material breaches" of his employment agreement. Perera is yet to file a defence.

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Wilson's company is seeking damages worth $478,932, in addition to interest. The case will resume in September.

A CoinSpot spokeswoman told the publication that she could not reveal more details about the crypto exchange's legal battle with its ex-employee while the matter is sub judice.

"CoinSpot enforces robust safeguards to ensure operations and assets remain secure," she said. "We take the security of our customers' holdings extremely seriously and have not had customer funds impacted on our platform. CoinSpot has zero tolerance for fraud and will always work closely with law enforcement to protect our users."

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This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.