A Sydney woman who allegedly had $4.6 million mistakenly given to her by her bank and spent much of it on handbags may not have broken the law, a magistrate has told a court.
Advertisement
The 21-year-old woman was prevented from boarding a flight to Malaysia about 8.25pm today, when Australian Federal Police arrested her by virtue of a warrant.
A woman has been arrested after she spent millions on luxury items when £2.3 million was mistakenly transferred into her bank account.
She appeared in Waverley Local Court on Thursday with her hair in a messy bun, revealing a small rose tattoo behind her left ear.
Prosecuting attorney Marc Turner pushed back, saying Lee applied for the emergency passport within weeks of learning that a warrant had been issued for her arrest.
Christine Jiaxin Lee, 21, listed her address in court documents as a sub-penthouse unit in the suburbs of Rhodes, Sydney, that “boasts uninterrupted views across to Sydney Harbour”, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
One of Australia’s biggest banks, Westpac, claims the enormous amount of money was made available to her due to a “glitch” in their system.
Judge Lisa Stapleton released Lee on bail, doubting whether she’s actually guilty of any crime.
Vincent King, her boyfriend, described her as a “good girl” but said he did not know about the alleged fraud. “It’s money we all dream of”, and warned that the police would struggle to prove that the spending of the money was illegal, the Daily Mail wrote.
He told News Corp he had “no idea” his girlfriend had ever been given access to the money and reportedly claimed to have never seen her spending lavishly on luxury goods.
It’s alleged $3.3m of the missing funds remains outstanding, with a proportion spent on “luxury items”. However, her bail conditions mean she must report to police twice a day.
The Malaysian national wrongly received the money after it was transferred into her account as an overdraft four years ago.
She continued to note that Lee did not take the money from Westpac, but instead “they gave it to her”.
Advertisement
McCarron countered to say Lee had lost her passport, and was using an emergency passport to visit her parents in Malaysia.
