A New Zealand woman accused of murdering her elderly mother allegedly deployed a crypto exit scam just days before, extracting thousands through fabricated trading profits while hemorrhaging over $40,000 in crypto and Bitcoin investments the year before, prosecutors said Monday.
Julia DeLuney faces murder charges in Wellington High Court for the death of her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory, at her Khandallah home on January 24, 2024.
Prosecutors allege DeLuney staged the scene to make it appear her mother had fallen from an attic, while forensic experts concluded the fatal injuries, including multiple blunt force trauma to the head, were not consistent with a fall.
Court testimony has now revealed how the former school teacher's crypto trading addiction became central to the alleged homicide, according to NewstalkZB report.
Prosecutors say DeLuney had been stealing from Gregory for months and used elaborate crypto scams to extract final payments before the murder.
Financial records show that between January 2023 and January 2024, DeLuney transferred over $90,000 (NZD $156,555) to crypto platforms.
Her earnings, including over $53,000 (NZD $92,000) in deposits from friends and family, and $26,000 (NZD $45,000) of that from her mother, were allegedly not enough to offset her spending.
By early 2024, she was $40,902.69 (NZD $68,000) in deficit, according to New Zealand forensic accountant Eric Huang.
Two days before Gregory's death, DeLuney emailed her mother claiming a crypto investment made on her behalf had generated profits of more than $160,000 USD.
She requested $18,000 USD (NZD $30,000) for withdrawal fees and tax liability, asking her mother to cover half the amount, fees that a crypto expert later testified were “totally false” and indicative of a scam.
Gregory then deposited $3,600 (NZD $6,000) cash into DeLuney's account on January 23 and withdrew $5,400 (NZ$9,000) from her retirement fund.
Red flags
"It's all safe, mum, don't worry," DeLuney had allegedly told Gregory when confronted about previous unauthorized crypto investments, according to family friend Cheryl Thomson's testimony.
Instead of crypto investments, DeLuney used the money to pay credit card debt, buy a Lotto ticket, and make payments to Sky TV, Afterpay, and Mitre 10, with only $1,200 actually invested in crypto.
The cash deposit pattern raised red flags as on June 25, 2023, DeLuney made eight deposits totaling $18,000 (NZ$29,800) at smart ATMs, with $12,000 (NZ$20,000) deposited in four transactions within minutes.
While DeLuney allegedly believed crypto offered anonymity for her schemes, blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis pointed out to Decrypt that the opposite is often true.
"While criminals often erroneously view crypto as a tool for financial anonymity, their reliance on the blockchain has allowed investigators to trace these transactions more easily than would have been possible with traditional cash-based money laundering," the company stated in its latest crypto crime report.
"Unlike traditional financial investigations, where evidence is often siloed across different institutions, the blockchain offers a single, authoritative, transparent, and immutable ledger,” the firm said.
During police interviews, DeLuney claimed she left her mother's house to get help after Gregory fell from the attic, returning to find her dead. She maintains that someone else killed her mother during the 90 minutes she was gone.
However, police questioning revealed inconsistencies in her account, particularly regarding blood evidence found throughout the house and on the attic ladder.
DeLuney has maintained her innocence, with her defense team arguing police focused too narrowly on her as a suspect.
