Stefanos Papanastasiou, an Australia-based cryptocurrency fund manager and the founder of so-called, Australia’s first online mattress retailer OzMattress, has been reportedly sued by his client for an alleged loss of over AUD$20 million ($14.2 million), as reported by Daily Australian newspaper The Age on March 19.
As per the report, in 2017, Papanastasiou claimed that he has spent half a million Australian dollars ($355,000) in order to develop an algorithm that will deliver substantial returns through the trading of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)-based tokens. One of his clients, property developer Savvas Alexiadis claims in the filing that Papanastasiou owes him more than AUD$2.7 million (nearly $2 million).
The documents filed with Supreme Court of Victoria asserts that Alexiadis transferred over AUD$2.1 million (nearly $1.5 million) into a Papanastasiou’s trading account. Moreover, Alexiadis also transferred an unspecified quantity of BTC into wallets managed by Papanastasiou.
Messages allegedly sent by Papanastasiou is cited in the claim:
“Sam, don’t get caught up in the details. Leave it to me. Let me know password login for ACX [trading account]. I’ll deal with whatever funds are in there … Eyes on the prize Sam. Understood? Got your back.”
The document further claims that Papanastasiou asked Alexiadis to transfer AUD$40,000 (over $28,000) to his wife, AUD$35,000 (nearly $25,000) to his sister and $450,000 (almost $320,000) to a mattress supplier in Thomastown. He promised to send an equivalent in crypto assets.
As per the publication, Papanastasiou and his wife, Shalini Ganapathy, defaulted on the purchase of AUD$5.44 million house after December 2017, during the time Bitcoin had reached its $20,000 peak. Notably, at the press time Papanastasiou’s OzMattress website was offline.
The claim further notes that Papanastasiou repeatedly refused to provide an account of trading activity and neither did comply to repay the amounts asked by his clients. In response to Alexadais’s claim to return the around $2 million, Papanastasiou reportedly said:
“The Supreme Court action is new to me and I intend to defend myself against his claim as he has been compensated in excess of $2.7m […] Sam [Alexadais] and his associates have a lot to answer for as the truth of events is vastly different and far more sinister.”
Amongst its many clients, Papanastasiou’s fund’s one notorious client is Mark Thompson, a former Australian Football League coach, who was accused of MDMA and methamphetamine trafficking in May last year.
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