UPDATE: The young woman that was intercepted at Sydney airport last night accused of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage has appeared in court.
But the magistrate says that 21-year-old Christine Jiaxin Lee may not have broken the law.
According to the police allegations, Lee opened a statement account one month before her 18th birthday in August 2012.
Westpac accidentally gave her credit on the account in the form of an unlimited overdraft.
Between July 2014 and April 2015, Lee allegedly overdrew on numerous occasions, totalling $4,653,333.02.
Her Legal Aid lawyer Fiona McCarron told the court that approximately $1 million had been spent on handbags, luxury items and some transfers.
About $3.3 million remains outstanding.
She said the police would have difficulties proving the spending was illegal, to which Stapleton agreed.
“She didn’t take it from them. They gave it to her,” Stapleton said
Stapleton has now granted Lee bail, saying it appeared Westpac inadvertently gave her an unlimited overdraw facility and so she used it.
“It isn’t proceeds of crime. It’s money we all dream of,” she said.
A young woman from Sydney has appeared in court accused of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception after $4.6 million was accidentally transferred into her bank account.
The 21-year-old from Rhodes, in Sydney, was intercepted by federal police at Sydney airport when she tried to board a flight to Malaysia.
The woman was then taken to Mascot police station where she was charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Police allege that $4.6 million was accidently transferred to the young woman’s bank account in 2012, when she was just 17 years old. Four years later, she still hadn’t returned the cash.
A NSW Police spokeswoman told News.com.au that the Sydney City Local Area Command’s CBD fraud unit began investigating the money transfer at the time of the incorrect transfer, and a warrant for the woman’s arrest was granted in March this year.
She was refused bail to appear in Waverley Local Court today.
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