Make-up artist’s legal fight against Commonwealth Bank over a global money laundering scam

A family who allege they have lost millions of dollars through a criminal act known as cuckoo-smurfing, have sued the Commonwealth Bank in a new legal war.

Makeup artist Delania Marundrury and her mother had their money seized by the AFP. Picture: Supplied

Exclusive: A make-up artist studying in Australia and her Indonesian family are suing the Commonwealth Bank in a David and Goliath, landmark case over an international money laundering scam.

Delania Marundrury and her mother Widyia and family have lost millions of dollars sent to Australia to buy land, build a house and pay for her education and living expenses.

And they are arguing it was the CBA’s fault they lost as much money as they did.

Solicitor Gabriel Kuek from Access Law has launched an action in the Federal Court on the family’s behalf saying the bank breached its anti-money laundering obligations by not immediately reporting suspicious activity in their bank account.

The family say they were unaware anything was amiss, and continued to send money – all of which was later seized by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) as the suspected proceeds of crime.

The Marundrury family have never been accused of any crime nor charged. Yet they have lost all their money they sent to Australia.

Fona Marundruy transferred the money from Indonesia to his daughter and wife's accounts in Australia. Picture: Supplied

Lawyers for the family argue they have been victims of so-called cuckoo smurfing, a simple but clever criminal activity which involves making dirty money clean.

They are also arguing the family has been victimised three times in Australia – first by the crooks, secondly by the AFP picking on them as “soft targets” and taking their money, and thirdly by the CBA exerting its might and resources to fight them.

But the Marundrury’s have just won the first round in the case after Federal Court Judge Mark Moshinsky dismissed an application by the CBA to have the matter thrown out.

The CBA is arguing there is no prospect of success and that it cannot defend itself because it is prevented under the financial watchdog AUSTRAC’s laws from revealing any information about anti-money laundering activity unless it is to authorised law enforcement. The bank argues it is manifestly unfair and an abuse of process.

Judge Moshinsky has given the parties four months to contact AUSTRAC CEO Nicole Rose and ask her to exercise her discretion allowing the bank to discuss it obligations under the laws.

But the bank has already made extensive admissions about breaching its anti-money laundering laws before agreeing in 2018 to pay a massive $700 million fine – at the time the largest in corporate history.

AUSTRAC had accused the bank of serious and systemic failures to report suspicious deposits, transfers and account transactions.

AUSTRAC's CEO Nicole Rose will be asked to exercise her discretion and allow the banks to discuss the case. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Earlier this year Ms Rose warned businesses and customers if they identify potential cuckoo smurfing behaviour, they must report it to AUSTRAC “so together we can disrupt criminal syndicates targeting the bank accounts of Australians.”

The Marundrury’s have argued the CBA didn’t do that, and it owed a duty to its customers to protect them and stop potentially illegal transactions occurring through its accounts.

The family say their money was to be sent to Australia from Indonesia via a money changer – who charged less for the transaction than the bank, but it was never sent. Unbeknown to them the same amount of dirty money from crooks was transferred into their accounts in multiple deposits of less than $10,000 from other unknown people.

Originally published as Make-up artist’s legal fight against Commonwealth Bank over a global money laundering scam