Cryptocurrency firm accidentally sent $10.5 million rather than $100 to Australian woman but took 7 months to realize

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Cryptocurrency firm accidentally sent $10.5 million rather than $100 to Australian woman but took 7 months to realize
Rafael Henrique/Getty Images
  • Crypto.com accidentally sent a woman $10.5 million rather than $100, per a legal document.
  • It only noticed seven months later after carrying out an audit, per the judgment.
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A cryptocurrency exchange company accidentally transferred almost $10.5 million to an Australian woman but failed to notice the error for seven months, a legal document shows.

Crypto.com made the mistaken payment in May 2021 when it was supposed to pay Thevamanogari Manivel $100, but instead entered the wrong account number into the payment amount field, according to a default judgment released on Friday in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Manivel therefore received $10,474,143.00 from Crypto.com by mistake.

The cryptocurrency firm failed to spot the erroneous payment until a company audit was carried out in late December — seven months later, according to the judgment.

Crypto.com then launched legal action against Manivel and her sister Thilagavathy Gangadory, who received some of the $10.5 million payment, the judgment said.

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Crypto.com was granted freezing orders in February against Manivel's bank account, but discovered that she had sent most of the money to other accounts, according to the judgment.

In late January, Manivel sent $430,000 to her daughter, the judgment said. A month later, Manivel purchased a $1.35 million house in Craigieburn, a suburb of Melbourne, with the money that was mistakenly sent to her, the company claimed in the judgment.

Manivel then transferred the ownership of the house to her sister, Gangadory, who lives in Malaysia, per the judgment.

Crypto.com tried to freeze Gangadory's bank accounts in March, but it proved unsuccessful, the judgment said.

Gangadory didn't respond to correspondence from Crypto.com's solicitors, but did reply to one email from Manivel's lawyers, saying "received, thank you," according to the judgment.

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Manivel's solicitors told Crypto.com that Gangadory was seeking legal advice, per the judgment.

The default judgment released on Friday ordered Gangadory to pay Crypto.com $1.35 million, sell the property, and pay interest of $27,369.64 and costs.

Crypto.com didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. The company declined to comment to The Guardian and Daily Mail Australia while the case was before the courts.

Manivel and Gangadory could not be reached for comment.

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