Former employee behind $500,000 crypto theft from ex-boss, Dubai court rules

A dispute between a former employee and his employer escalated into a scheme that ended with the employer being robbed of $500,000 worth of cryptocurrency. The disgruntled former employee enlisted others to retrieve his passport and informed them about the digital assets owned by the victim, according to the details of a criminal ruling in the case. The Dubai Civil Court ordered the defendants to jointly repay the equivalent value of the stolen assets, amounting to AED1.835 million, and to pay AED30,000 in compensation for the moral damages suffered by the victim. The incident stemmed from a dispute between the victim and one of the accused, who had worked for him as a computer programmer for nearly a year. According to the accused's statements in the police investigation report, he worked in digital currencies for a company managed by the victim. He said his passport had remained in the employer’s possession for about two months because of a financial dispute involving AED35,000, which the employer claimed represented losses incurred by the company because of him. The accused stated that he wanted to recover his passport after the victim refused to return it before the amount was paid. Investigations found that he sought the assistance of others and informed them about the employer’s cryptocurrency holdings. He admitted meeting several people before the incident and asking them to retrieve his passport, leaving them to deal with the victim. On the day of the incident, the defendants went to the victim’s apartment, where he was with a friend. One of them impersonated a police officer and was followed inside by the others. They seized the phones of the victim and his friend and forced the victim to transfer cryptocurrency worth $500,000 before leaving the premises. Investigations showed that surveillance cameras around the building helped identify the suspects’ movements and the vehicles used to leave the scene. Search and investigation procedures also uncovered evidence linked to cryptocurrency transfers and digital wallets. One beneficiary wallet was found on the phone of one of the accused, while enquiries with a cryptocurrency platform showed that another wallet was linked to a different accused. The victim also identified the suspects from photographs, according to the case papers. The criminal court found that the defendants had deliberately seized the victim’s assets without his consent and that the evidence established their involvement in the crime. The court sentenced the five defendants at the initial trial to two years in prison each, fined them jointly the equivalent of $500,000 in local currency, ordered their deportation, and referred the civil claim to the competent court. The defendants appealed the ruling. The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions of four defendants, overturned the ruling against the second defendant and acquitted him. The criminal judgment became final regarding the liability of the convicted individuals, forming the basis for the civil court’s consideration of the victim’s claim for recovery of his assets and compensation. In the civil case, the victim maintained his claim for the value of the stolen cryptocurrency and sought compensation for the moral damage he suffered. After reviewing the case, the court affirmed that a final criminal judgment is binding on the civil court regarding matters conclusively decided, including the occurrence of the crime, its legal classification and its attribution to the perpetrators. The court noted that these issues cannot be reconsidered once settled by a final ruling. The court ordered the defendants to jointly repay AED1.835 million, equivalent to the $500,000 worth of misappropriated cryptocurrency, with legal interest at 5 per cent per annum from the date the lawsuit was filed until full payment. They were also ordered to pay AED30,000 in compensation for the moral damage suffered by the victim as a result of the emotional distress and anguish caused by the theft of his funds through threats.