$560,000 sent to wrong Commonwealth Bank account

An Aussie boss accidentally sent more than half a million dollars to the wrong bank account, but the owner hasn’t been found.

A court has forced the Commonwealth Bank to stop withdrawals from one account after it accidentally received more than half a million dollars in a monumental blunder by an Aussie boss.

Last June, Paliside Real Assets investment head Digby Beaumont — acting on behalf of the A&D Beaumont family trust — went to invest in L1 Capital’s Long Short Fund via a third party called Apex Group.

Mr Beaumont purchased $500,000 units in the fund, filling out bank details on the application papers by hand.

But he made one crucial error — the nominated BSB was wrong.

Digby Beaumont accidentally sent half a million dollars to the wrong bank account. Picture: LinkedIn.

When Mr Beaumont went to redeem the units in March, the proceeds, worth $560,000, went to the wrong account.

It took about a month — more than a year after he’d filled out the initial application papers — for Mr Beaumont to realise his error this April.

On the same day, according to a court interim judgment, “Mr and Mrs Beaumont completed a change of details form to nominate the correct BSB number. However, the proceeds had already been paid into another account with the Commonwealth Bank.”

So Mr Beaumont took the matter to court.

According to an interim judgment by the NSW Supreme Court, released earlier this week, Commonwealth Bank tried and failed to contact the recipient of the funds for several days.

In excerpts from the judgment, Mr Beaumont’s solicitor asked Commonwealth Bank’s lawyers “whether you can tell us whether the money is still in the bank account”.

The bank’s lawyer responded: “I can’t tell you that but let me have a think about what I can tell you. Well, let’s just say a freezing order tomorrow is a good idea.”

The court ordered Commonwealth Bank not to permit funds to be withdrawn from the account “unless, following such withdrawal, there will remain in the account funds equal to or greater than the ($560,000).”

The court also awarded Mr Beaumont’s legal team discovery powers to help identify the account holder.

Mr Beaumont and CBA have discussed the matter in court. Picture: David Clark.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Beaumont is responsible for Palisade Real Asset’s investment strategy, which focuses on mid-market opportunities across communications, power, renewables and transportation.

He was previously head of North America at Blue Sky Alternative Investments, which tumbled into administration in May 2019 after a scathing report cast doubt on how it was valuing investments.

Mr Beaumont has also previously worked at Whitehelm Capital, Allco Finance Group and Ernst & Young. He relocated from New York to Sydney in 2021.