Celebrity-Backed Crypto Platform Sues Woman After Accidentally Giving Her $10.5 Million A judge claims the woman must pay back the full amount of money, including selling a home she purchased for her sister.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Many have dubbed this the season of the "crypto winter," with the valuation of once-beloved coins plummeting amid a volatile market and a brutal onslaught of hackers and digital robberies.
Exchange platforms have been hit hard the past few months, especially with the lack of regulation on such platforms leading to crucial mistakes or loss of funds when users cash in or out.
Such was the case for one Australian woman who tried to cash out $100 from Crypto.com and instead found an accidental, casual $10.5 million deposited into her bank account.
Melbourne-based Thevamanogari Manivel had requested a $100 refund from the platform in May 2021. The error was was discovered via audit on December 21 after finding that an employee had entered the incorrect account number in the payout form.
It was too late for the error to be reversed, and much to Crypto.com's dismay, a large amount of the money had already been spent on shopping sprees, including a multi-million dollar home that Manivel purchased for her sister.
Crypto.com sued Manivel for the funds, claiming that she did not notify the exchange platform of the misplaced deposit and even froze her account with the company. Manivel nor her sister responded to court summons and now, Justice James Elliott of the Victorian Supreme Court in Australia has issued a default judgement in the case.
The issue orders Manivel and her sister to return the funds and the house, including any profits from the sales and legal fees the exchange platform must pay. The two sisters now owe a minimum of $1.35 million, over $27,000 in interest, and the sale of the house which is valued at around $1.35 million.
Crypto.com has been a popular play for celebrity endorsements, including commercials with LeBron James and Matt Damon. The once-famous Staples Center in Los Angeles was even renamed to be the Crypto.com arena.
The company laid off around 260 employees this past June before multiple employees came forward and revealed that hundreds of more layoffs were quietly taking place in the weeks that followed, which some claim to be upwards of 1,000 total employees let go.
