Ads for cryptocurrency firm Crypto.com proclaim, “Fortune favors the brave,” but in one woman’s case, fortune favored the lucky.
Last May, the company, which has hired Bourne Identity star Matt Damon to be the face of its ads, accidentally transferred $10.4 million to an Australian woman who then used the windfall to purchase a mansion, News.com.au reported.
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“Extraordinarily, the plaintiffs allegedly did not realize this significant error until some seven months later, in late December 2021,” a judge overseeing a legal battle over the money said, per the news outlet.
After a routine audit triggered a review of the transfer seven months after the fact, the crypto firm uncovered the mistake and went to court demanding the money back, per the report. It had intended to wire $100 to Thevamanogari Manivel, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, as part of a refund but unwittingly coughed up roughly $10.4 million instead.
Manivel split the big payday with six others and purchased a four-bedroom, four-bathroom house in Melbourne valued at an estimated $1.35 million, according to court records.
The company previously won court orders to freeze Manivel’s bank accounts, but most of the money had been moved to her sister’s accounts, per the report. Her sister, Thilagavathy Gangadory, was also given ownership of the mansion.
Last week, a court ordered the defendants to redress the matter and pay back the money in full, along with legal costs and 10% interest — $27,369. It also demanded the mansion get sold with the profits going to Crypto.com.
“It is established that the Craigieburn Property was acquired with funds traceable to the wrongful Payment and would never have been in Gangadory’s hands if the wrongful payment had not been made,” the judge said, according to the report.
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Gangadory reportedly did not have legal representatives show up in the case against her.
Crypto.com told the Washington Examiner it was “unable to comment” due to ongoing litigation. The company famously cut ads during the last Super Bowl.
