Couple mistakenly given $10.5m from Crypto.com thought they had won competition, court hears | Cryptocurrencies
A Victorian couple mistakenly given $10.5 million by an international cryptocurrency company thought they had won a competition when they received the money, a court has heard.
Thevamanogari Manivel and her partner, Jatinder Singh, appeared via video link from prison in the Melbourne magistrates court on Tuesday as they were committed to stand trial on theft and other charges.
Crypto.com intended to refund Manivel $100, but she was mistakenly transferred $10.47m in May 2021. The company did not notice the error until an audit was performed in December 2021.
A worker in Bulgaria, who processed the refund, had entered the wrong numbers into an Excel spreadsheet, said Crypto.com manager Michi Chan Fores. “It was a manual process and the records were kept in Excel,” she told the court.
After processing, the refund request was sent to Crypto.com’s payment provider in Australia, which then transferred the money to Manivel’s Commonwealth Bank of Australia account.
The Crypto.com account was in Singh’s name, but the transfer may have been sent to Manivel’s account because he used her bank card to buy cryptocurrency, the court heard.
Singh allegedly thought he had won the money after being sent a message from the Crypto.com app about a competition to win $10 million.
However, Fores said there was no such contest and Crypto.com did not send push notifications to tell users about contest wins.
The money was allegedly used to buy four houses with $4 million transferred to a Malaysian bank account. The rest bought vehicles, art and furniture, Victoria Police Snr Const Conor Healy told the court.
A majority has since been repaid, but about $3 million remains outstanding, Healy said, with civil lawsuits pending to freeze the estate and recover money from relatives given gifts.
Manivel pleaded not guilty to three charges including handling the proceeds of crime and theft from the Commonwealth Bank for withdrawing the money.
She was arrested at Melbourne Airport on March 17 as she allegedly tried to leave Australia to fly home to Malaysia with about $11,000 in cash – which amounts to another charge. Singh pleaded not guilty to theft for stealing the money from the bank.
Manivel’s attorney Jessica Willard asked that her client be released on bail with a $10,000 surety bond from her brother.
Prosecutors opposed bail, however, as police believe she could obstruct the course of justice if released by preventing the outstanding $3 million from being recovered.
There are also fears that Manivel is a flight risk after she was allegedly arrested while trying to leave Australia.
Magistrate Peter Reardon committed Manivel and Singh to stand trial in Melbourne County Court and will decide whether Manivel will be granted bail on Tuesday afternoon.
