Aussie court drops billionaire’s Meta crypto scam case

Australian prosecutors have dropped mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s criminal case against Meta in which he was seeking reparations over a series of crypto scam advertisements that used his face.

According to a spokesperson for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), there was insufficient evidence to continue Forrest’s prosecution against the tech giant.

The CDPP, representing Forrest’s case, reportedly made a submission to the chief judge to discontinue the case after receiving the brief.

In response to the case’s termination, Forrest said it was “a tragedy for innocent parents and grandparents who have lost their life savings.”

Read more: Google must tell Irish politician names behind crypto scam ads

Forrest sued Meta in Australian courts in 2022, accusing the social media firm of failing to take down thousands of crypto scam ads using his face and breaching anti-money laundering laws.

A Meta spokesperson said the company “doesn’t want scams on its platforms and we will continue to work tirelessly to prevent them and protect our users.” They added that scams are a complex threat and that bad actors will use every platform available.

Forrest has said he will continue to sue Meta in California over the same matter involving crypto scam adverts.

Fellow tech giant Google sued two alleged perpetrators of crypto scams earlier this month. Google accused the two China-based app developers of defrauding over 100,000 people via 87 fraudulent apps on its Google Play Store.

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