Australian woman sued after receiving $10.5 million from a crypto exchange

Following an unintentional deposit of AUD $10.5 million into one of their bank accounts, two Melbourne ladies went on a shopping binge.

In May 2021, Crypto.com, one of the biggest cryptocurrency trading platforms in the world, unintentionally sent the funds to Thevamanogari Manivel while attempting to complete a refund of merely AUD $100.

However, someone unintentionally transferred the sizable amount by entering an account number in the payment box rather than a refund.

After realizing its error, the company has now filed a lawsuit against Manivel and her sister Thilagavathy Gangadory, seven months later.

Error realized 7 months later

According to court records, the issue was found during an audit in December 2021.

The only problem was that some of the money had already been used by Manivel and Gangadory.

The court found out that Manivel moved AUD $10.1 million into a joint account following the mistake from the previous year.

Money spent on luxury home

The money was then moved from two accounts in February of this year to pay for a $1.35 million house in Craigieburn.

Manivel reportedly purchased the five-bedroom house as a present for her sister.

With a judge in Victoria's Supreme Court ordering the sale of the opulent mansion and the payment of the firm's money, the cryptocurrency company has now partially won its legal dispute.

Money has to be returned: Lawyer

Justin Lawrence from Henderson and Ball Lawyers speaking to 7NEWS, a local news channel, said, "There’s no doubt that if you saw that in your account you would know it shouldn’t be there, and the onus is actually on you to actually call the sender and to say look that shouldn’t have come into my account.”

“If you’re withholding property of someone else you’re effectively holding property by deception, you’re not entitled to it, you need to give it back,” he added.

The case returns to court in October.