A cryptocurrency-exchange company accidentally transferred almost $10.5 million to an Australian woman but failed to notice the error for seven months, according to a legal document.
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 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.
The company was granted freezing orders in February against Manivel’s bank account but discovered that she had sent most of the money to other accounts, the judgment said.
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 added in the judgment.
Manivel then transferred the ownership of the house to Gangadory, who lives in Malaysia, the judgment said.
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.
Manivel’s solicitors told Crypto.com that Gangadory was seeking legal advice, the judgment said.
The default judgment 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.
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