Two Melbourne women have gone shopping after $10.5 million was accidentally deposited into one of their bank accounts.
One of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms in the world, Crypto.com, accidentally transferred the money to Thevamanogari Manivel in May 2021, when the company was trying to process a refund of only $100.
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However, instead of transferring the refund, someone entered an account number in the payment section and accidentally transferred the large sum.
Now, seven months later, the company has taken legal action against Manivel and his sister Thilagavathy Gangadory, after realizing their mistake.
The error was discovered during an audit in December 2021, court documents revealed.
The only problem: Mannivel and Gangadory had already spent some of the money.
The court found that after last year’s error, Manivel transferred the $10.1 million to a joint account.
Then, in February of this year, funds were withdrawn from two accounts to purchase a $1.35 million property in Craigieburn.
It is understood that Manivel had bought the five-bedroom house as a gift for his sister.
Now, the cryptocurrency company has won part of its legal battle with a Victorian Supreme Court judge ordering the luxury home to be sold and the money returned to the company.
7NEWS understands that if the owner does not put the property on the market, a trustee could be appointed to arrange the sale, or if the owner ignores the orders, they could face contempt of court.
“There’s no question that if you saw that on your account, you’d know it shouldn’t be there, and you actually have a responsibility to call the sender and tell them that it shouldn’t have gotten into my account,” Justin. Lawrence of Henderson and Ball Lawyers told 7NEWS.
“If you are holding someone else’s property, you are actually holding the property by deceit, you have no right to it, you have to return it.”
The case returns to court in October.
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