Crypto.com, a popular crypto exchange, has launched legal action against Thevamanogari Manivel and her sister Thilagavathy Gangadory after taking seven months to realise its mistake of transferring $10.5M in Manivel’s account instead of refunding $100.
According to international media reports, the error happened when the company attempted to give Manivel a refund in May 2021 but entered an account number in the payment section of the transfer. The $10,474,143 mistake was discovered in a company audit in December 2021.
Money Spent By Manivel On A Luxury House
According to Hearld Sun when Crypto.com tried to get its money back, $1.35million had already been spent on a luxury five-bedroom house and the rest had been moved to other accounts. “The house in the Melbourne suburb of Craigieburn, which has four bathrooms, a home gym, and cinema, was bought on February 3,” the report said.
Furthermore, Crypto.com, advertised by famous actor Matt Damon, made freezing orders against Manivel’s bank account, but court documents show $10.1m had already been moved to a different joint account, and $430,000 had been transferred to her daughter, Raveena Vijian.
Meanwhile, Manivel is also seeking legal advice, but she or her lawyers failed to appear in court.
Manivel transferred the house registration to the Malaysia-based Gangadory before Crypto.com was able to take out freezing orders against her in March 2022.
Hence, Crypto.com took Gangadory to the Supreme Court seeking to get back the cost of the house plus 10 percent interest. Ruling the favour of crypto exchange, Judge James Dudley Elliott ordered Gangadory to pay Crypto.com $1.35m, the interest of $27,369 and costs, and that the Craigieburn house is sold.
Crypto.com Recently Completed Its Security and Data Privacy Tests
Crypto.com recently announced completing the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type II Compliance audit to demonstrate its effectiveness in security and data privacy practices.
On the Flipside
- Due to the irreversible nature of cryptocurrency protocols, transactions can’t be cancelled or reversed once initiated. If you sent funds to the wrong address, you’ll need to contact the receiving party and ask for their cooperation in returning the funds.
Why You Should Care
There have been numerous cases of crypto being transferred to the wrong accounts, usually, the amount is not close to Crypto.com’s $10.5m.
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