Rhiannon Ingle
A boss who sent more than £290k to the wrong bank account by mistake still hasn't got the money back.
Paliside Real Assets investment head and ex-Blue Sky executive Digby Beaumont made the massive financial blunder last June, leading to a court forcing the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) to stop withdrawals from the account that received the cash.
The fateful error was made over a year ago, yet Beaumont is still unable to acquire colossal amount of lost dosh.
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It all went wrong when the Aussie, on behalf of family trust A&D Beaumont, commenced the process of investing in L1 Capital’s Long Short Fund via a third party called Apex Group.
The big boss bought AU $500,000 (£260k) of units in the fund which, if redeemed, would now be worth a mammoth AU $560,000 (£290k) according to findings made in March.
Beaumont filled out the paperwork by hand - what would go on to prove a rookie error - and accidentally nominated the wrong BSB.
So, unsurprisingly, the fat stack of cash went to a different bank account than intended.
CBA has been unable to contact the recipient of the funds for several days, according to an interim judgment from the NSW Supreme Court.
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However, luckily for the businessman, his legal team have successfully won an order to prevent the recipient from withdrawing funds from their account.
The order explains it took a whole month before anyone even found out about the mix-up.
It states: "Mr Beaumont, and indeed Apex, became aware that the monies had been paid into the wrong account by reason of the misstatement in the initial application form."
Upon finding out on the same day, the order reveals: "Mr and Mrs Beaumont completed a change of details form to nominate the correct BSB number.
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"However, the proceeds had already been paid into another account with the Commonwealth Bank."
Talk about a stomach-dropping moment.
It didn't take long for lawyers to then get involved.
Earlier this week, Beaumont's solicitor asked CBA's legal team 'whether you can tell us whether the money is still in the bank account' according to the judgement.
"I can’t tell you that but let me have a think about what I can tell you," CBA’s lawyer responded. "Well, let’s just say a freezing order tomorrow is a good idea."
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Big yikes.
The judgement went on to order that CBA 'must not permit funds to be withdrawn from the account unless, following such withdrawal, there will remain in the account funds equal to or greater than the value' transferred to it.
LADbible has reached out to Paliside Real Assets for comment.