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A secretive Melbourne billionaire is taking a former employee to court, claiming they stole almost $500,000 from his highly profitable crypto exchange.
The case is the second alleged fraud to hit CoinSpot founder and billionaire Russell Wilson, after fraudsters hit the platform in a $40 million heist in 2017.
Documents filed in the County Court by CoinSpot’s parent company, Casey Block Services, claim customer support team member Iresh Pawan Perera shifted $478,932 out of the company and into a personal bank account across 76 transactions in the two years to March.
Perera is accused of converting CoinSpot’s digital currency for “his own use by exchanging it” into cash, according to a statement of claim.
Perera’s job was terminated immediately on March 9, because the alleged “misappropriation conduct” amounted to “material breaches” of his employment agreement.
Perera is yet to file a defence and did not respond to a request for comment. The ex-CoinSpot employee’s solicitor was also contacted for comment.
Wilson, based in Melbourne’s leafy south-eastern suburb of Berwick, is one of the state’s wealthiest individuals thanks to CoinSpot, which last year paid his family and other shareholders $251 million in dividends.
In the 2025 financial year alone, the business – founded in 2013 – reported a $270 million net profit and branded itself as Australia’s biggest crypto exchange.
While Wilson and his wife Kellie have amassed a $1.6 billion fortune, according to the latest Financial Review Rich List, they have flown completely under the radar.
The company came to widespread, worldwide attention in 2017 when UK-based fraudsters, led by ringleader James Parker, exploited a glitch in CoinSpot’s platform to falsely credit accounts with millions in just three months.
The scam netted so much money that the group handed out gift cards worth thousands of dollars to strangers in the street, and Parker bought cars for people he met in the pub.
Wilson told a criminal trial in the UK in 2022 that discovering the missing crypto and subsequent confrontations with the fraud masterminds was the “worst time of my life”.
The money was returned last year, after three co-conspirators were convicted and jailed for money laundering. Parker died in January 2021, before he could be prosecuted.
Outside the crypto industry, the CoinSpot brand may be best known in Victoria as a corporate sponsor of the AFL’s Western Bulldogs. The partnership is up for renewal this year.
Wilson has maintained a low profile despite an impressive property portfolio spanning dozens of homes across Melbourne and regional Victoria, and his co-ownership of a bustling, New York-inspired restaurant on Berwick’s High Street – Bodega on High.
Wilson, alongside his Bodega on High business partner Leroy Fletcher, splashed $300,000 on Christmas lights, a giant tree, life-size nutcrackers and candy canes last year.
Wilson has even visited space, having bought a ticket for Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin mission in 2025.
He also donated $5 million in 2022 to a lab dedicated to “de-extincting” marsupials, including Tasmanian tigers, at the University of Melbourne.
“The benefits of this open research will be wide and varied,” Wilson said in a statement of the philanthropic donation.
“We came across Professor (Andrew) Pask’s incredible work, believe it or not, via some YouTube clips on him talking about his research and passion for the thylacine and Australian marsupials. We realise that we are on the verge of a great breakthrough in science through improvements in technology and its application to the genome,” he said.
A CoinSpot spokeswoman said she could not discuss the company’s latest legal fight with its former employee while it is before the courts.
“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”.
Wilson’s company is seeking damages worth $478,932 and interest. The matter will resume in September.
Regarding his donation to the University of Melbourne, CoinSpot’s spokeswoman said Wilson “prefers to keep his personal philanthropic activities private”.
“CoinSpot founder Russell Wilson supports a range of charitable and community causes in his personal capacity,” she said.
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