Digital assets exchange CRYPTO.COM is reportedly in a legal battle with two Melbourne women to recover $7.2 million that was accidentally deposited into one of their bank accounts.
According to a new report by 7News, the Singapore-based firm the funds to Thevamanogari Manivel when her account number was accidentally entered into the payment field as the company was attempting to process a refund of $68.50 in May 2021.
The company did not realize its mistake until seven months later during an audit in December 2021. It later filed a legal claim to retrieve the amount but Manivel already spent a chunk of the money.
The court found that instead of reporting the error, Manivel moved $6.2 million of the mistakenly-sent funds to a joint account. In February of this year, she used about $900,000 to buy a five-bedroom home for her sister, Thilagavathy Gangadory, according to the report.
The report says that Crypto.com has already won a portion of the legal battle as a judge in Victoria’s Supreme Court has ordered the sale of the luxury home and the proceeds returned to the crypto company.
Crypto.com is seeking the recovery of the amount amid a crypto winter that resulted in a slump among digital assets companies. In June, the exchange of 260 employees, or about 5% of its workforce, to optimize profitability in the current crypto market downturn.
