Anika Begay
An Australian man has been sentenced to prison after finding himself millions of dollars richer following an accidental refund from Crypto.com, the 13th largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.
According to the report, the Australian man named Jatinder Singh, 39, and his “then partner” Thevamanogari Manivel, 41, received approximately $10.47 million from Crypto.com due to an administrative error involving an Excel spreadsheet error by a Bulgaria-based employee.
As reported by local media, the incident occurred when the employee mistakenly entered Singh’s bank account number as the amount to be refunded, resulting in a huge deposit in his account.
The Beginning and the Failure
This story, a mistake that led to an unexpected fortune, began when Singh attempted to make a modest deposit of $100 into his Crypto.com account using Thevamanogari Manivel’s bank account, which was initially rejected due to mismatched account names.
The employee working in Bulgaria later reportedly “mistakenly typed Manivel’s account number into an Excel document, instead of what should have been a $100 refund.”
After this event, Manivel’s bank account was credited with $10.47 million. After receiving the sum, Singh told his associate Manivel to transfer the accidentally refunded funds to a joint account “to prevent them from being recovered.”
Singh and Manivel then embarked on an “extravagant spending spree,” misappropriating millions of dollars in property, luxury items and large transfers to overseas accounts.
The legal action brought an abrupt end to their lavish lifestyle, although it took Crypto.com seven months to realize the mistake during an internal audit.
The legal consequences
After authorities raided, Singh was eventually arrested and charged with theft after spending $6.07 million of the missing funds. He was sentenced to three years in prison, reflecting the severity of his actions, despite his initial claim that he believed the money was a “prize from an online competition.”
Manivel also faced legal action, but was sentenced to serve a prison sentence and 18 months’ community confinement after admitting recklessly handling the proceeds of crime.
The court’s response highlighted Singh’s lack of insight into his wrongdoing. The judge in charge, Marich of the Victorian County Court, commented on the case, saying:
Your crime was precipitated by the most extraordinary circumstances. You had no legal right to the money and were reckless to say the least.
The report concludes by observing:
The court was told that Crypto.com had filed a lawsuit to seize the assets, but had refused to tell prosecutors how much money had been recovered.
Featured image created with TradingView’s DALL-E chart
