When a crypto company sent her $10,474,143 by mistake, an Australian woman went on a spending spree.
The incident occurred in 2021, when Thevamanogari Manivel received the funds in her bank account. She went on a shopping spree instead of reporting it to authorities.
She spent nearly the entire sum until Crypto.com discovered the mistake in December of that year.
Manivel was unable to return the funds because she had purchased a home in Melbourne for AUD$1.35 million following the funds’ transfer to a joint account she shared with her sister, Thilagavathy Gangadory.
The court heard that the ill-gotten money was used to buy four houses, all of which had been frozen by the Supreme Court as part of an ongoing civil action brought there by Crypto.com.
Senior Constable Healy claimed that between December 24, 2021 and February 20, 2022, $8 million was transferred from Manivel’s account.
A $1.2 million deposit was used to purchase a luxury home in Craigieburn, and a $56,000 deposit was used to purchase a home in Mickleham.
Manivel allegedly lavished gifts on her daughters, including $500,000 for one, $430,000 for another, and $200,000 for a third.
Another $70,000 was used to purchase a car for her daughter in Melbourne, and $1.2 million was given to a friend of her partner Jatinder Singh in order to pay off his mortgage on a Mickleham property.
The remainder is said to have been blown on furniture, art, and other high-end items.
After Crypto.com won its legal case against her, Manivel was recently ordered to sell her home and repay the funds with interest.
According to UNILAD, during the ruling, Justice James Dudley Elliot stated that evidence showed Manivel purchased her home with stolen funds.
“It is established that the Craigieburn property was acquired with funds traceable to the wrongful payment and would never have been in Gangadory’s hands if the wrongful payment had not been made. Thus, Gangadory benefited unjustly from the wrongful payment by receiving the purchase price of the Craigieburn property. As a result, I was satisfied that the orders relating to the Craigieburn property sale were appropriate.”
According to CNBC, Crypto.com was supposed to send Manivel AUD$68 but instead sent millions.
The lawsuit was filed in 2022, and her assets were frozen by local authorities.
Although cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, centralized platforms can attempt to reverse payments in the event of fraud or human error.
