Couple Faces Trial After Accidentally Receiving $6.7M from Crypto.com

Thevamanogari Manivel and Jatinder Singh, the Melbourne couple who were charged with theft after accidentally receiving 10.5 million Australian dollars ($6.7 million) from Crypto.com in 2021, are getting ready to face their upcoming plea trial next month. 

In May 2021, The Daily Mail reported that Crypto.com mistakenly transferred the money to Manivel’s account, after the wrong figure was entered into the payment field, according to court documents. 

Seven months later, the exchange realized their mistake, attempting to issue a $100 refund into Manivel’s account after Singh had used it to conduct more trades.

Soon after, the exchange approached the Victoria Supreme Court, seeking the return of its misplaced funds. A Crypto.com manager told the court it was unusual for a trader not to use his own account, which prompted the refund when Singh failed to confirm he intended to use his partner’s account.  

The mistake, according to the report, occurred when an employee working out of Bulgaria accidentally copied and pasted the account number of her previous job into the refund amount headed back to Manivel’s account. 

But as for Manivel and her partner, they weren’t shy about using those funds as quickly as they could. The report revealed that the couple bought four properties with the money, which included a $1.2 million home in Melbourne, in addition to several cars, massive payments to her daughters, art, furniture, and more luxury items. 

Singh, according to the report, was labeled as a “keen crypto trader,” with a reported $49,000 in his Crypto.com wallet at the time. When asked about how they received the funds, Singh reportedly told law enforcement that he had won the money from Crypto.com through a contest. 

However, Michi Chan Fores, a Crypto.com compliance officer, stated that “the exchange did not send such notifications to its users.”

After spending 209 days behind bars, Manivel received an 18-month community corrections order, which mandates six months of stringent compliance and community service. The plea trial is set for October 23. 

Editor’s note: This article was written by an nft now staff member in collaboration with OpenAI’s GPT-4.