A woman went on a huge shopping spree after a crypto company accidentally sent her $10.5 million in Australia.
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The incident occurred when Thevamanogari Manivel received the money in her bank account in 2021. Instead of questioning or reporting it to authorities, she went on a shopping spree. She spent almost the entire amount until Crypto.com discovered the error in December of that year. Manivel could not return the funds because she had purchased a home in Melbourne for AUD$1.35 million after the funds were transferred to a joint account she shared with her sister, Thilagavathy Gangadory.
Manivel bought the house as a gift for her sister, and the two lived in it, enjoying their money. She also gave a substantial sum to her daughter. Manivel was recently ordered to sell her home and repay the funds with interest after Crypto.com won its legal case against her.
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According to UNILAD, Justice James Dudley Elliot said during the ruling that evidence showed Manivel purchased her home through 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 was unjustly enriched by receiving the purchase price of the Craigieburn property out of the wrongful payment. Accordingly, I was satisfied that the orders relating to the sale of the Craigieburn property were appropriate.”
In a report by CNBC, Crypto.com was originally supposed to send Manivel AUD$68 but sent the millions in error. The lawsuit was filed last year, and local authorities froze her assets.
“Where a claim is made for the recovery of a debt, damages or any property, whether or not another claim is also made in the proceeding, and the plaintiff is entitled to judgment on that claim against any defendant in accordance with Rule 21.01 …, the plaintiff may for the recovery of a debt, enter final judgment against that defendant for an amount not exceeding the amount claimed in the writ or, if the plaintiff has served a statement of claim, the amount claimed in the statement of claim, together with interest from the commencement of the proceeding to the date of the judgment— on any debt which carries interest, at the rate it carries; on any other debt, at the rates payable on judgment debts during that time;”
Crypto transactions are not reversible, but centralized platforms can attempt to reverse payments if fraud or human error occurs. The company had its own share of issues when it laid off 260 employees last June and went through a second round of layoffs. The company said they were looking for a way to cut costs with investors by letting go of riskier assets. Additionally, they were continuing payments for renaming the Staples Center in Los Angeles.