Infamous Australian breakdancer's brother charged with crypto fraud

First, Australian Rachael Gunn, a.k.a. Raygun, bewildered the world with her unusual breakdancing at the Olympics in the summer of 2024. Now, her brother, Brendan Gunn, is facing charges in a crypto-related criminal case.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said that Brendan has already appeared in a local court to defend himself against charges that, in 2020, he dealt with at least $100,000, which, according to ASIC, it is "reasonable to suspect" was proceeds of crime.

"It is alleged that Mr. Gunn dealt with two bank cheques, which contained the proceeds of four investment amounts totaling $181,000, made by three victim investors who deposited funds for conversion to cryptocurrency," the Commission said.

According to ASIC, Brendan Gunn was leading a company, Mormarkets Pty Ltd, which offered crypto exchange services and "purported overseas investment opportunities."

The Commission claims that he tried to open a series of bank accounts to receive and transfer deposits. However, these were repeatedly closed due to concerns about scams, and banks also informed Gunn of these concerns.

If found guilty, Brendan Gunn faces up to three years in prison and/or a fine of $37,800.

Australians have already seen their share of crypto fraud and exchange failures. In 2021, MyCryptoWallet and Blockchain Global Limited (ACX) exchanges collapsed, with the latter owing $21 million to investors at the time of its collapse.

In 2022, another three platforms – Digital Surge, Mine Digital, and TrigonX – failed. Last October, the ex-CEO of Mine Digital was charged with fraud.

In either case, last week, ASIC said that it had removed 10,240 investment scam websites, including 7,227 fake investment platform scams, 1,564 phishing scam hyperlinks, and 1,257 crypto investment scams.