Thevamanogari Manivel at centre of accidental $1.35m crypto refund in jail
A woman accused of buying a $1.35m house with crypto money mistakenly transferred to her has fronted court while claiming she thought her partner won the cash.
Police & Courts
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The woman at the centre of an accidental $10.5m cryptocurrency refund has fronted court from jail as she claimed she thought her partner had won the cash.
Thevamanogari Manivel, accused of buying a luxury $1.35m Craigieburn house with money mistakenly transferred to her by crypto.com, was beamed into online court from Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on Tuesday.
The 40-year-old faces two charges including dealing with $10,474,143 in cash that was proceeds of crime at Narre Warren in May 2021, and dealing with $11,750 that was suspected of being proceeds of crime in Tullamarine in March this year.
The Dandenong North woman was arrested and charged by police on the same day she was accused of the Tullamarine offence, on March 17.
The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday that Ms Manivel told police her partner and co-accused Jatinder Singh had won the money.
Jessica Willard, for Ms Manivel, told the court that her partner also told investigators during his record of interview that he had won the cash.
“The issue in relation to Ms Manivel is the dishonesty element whether she knew the money was stolen or not,” Ms Willard said.
The Herald Sun earlier revealed that the cryptocurrency trading platform, which uses megastar Matt Damon in advertising and splashed $25m on AFL and AFLW sponsorship deals, mistakenly sent Ms Manivel the millions in cash instead of a $100 refund.
According to Supreme Court civil documents, the company accidentally entered an account number in the payment field instead of the refund.
Crypto.com has since taken Ms Manivel and her sister Thilagavathy Gangadory, based in Malaysia, to the Supreme Court seeking freezing orders over the cash transfer and the Craigieburn house, which was transferred into Ms Gangadory’s name.
The lavish Liewah Circuit property, with five bedrooms and four bathrooms, was sold on February 3.
By February 7, Crypto.com had made freezing orders against Ms Manivel’s Commonwealth Bank account, but Supreme Court documents showed that $10.1m had been placed in a different joint account, $430,000 was transferred to her daughter and the Craigieburn house had been purchased and transferred in her sister’s name.
The Magistrates’ Court gave permission for Ms Manivel’s lawyers to cross examine a Commonwealth Bank representative regarding its investigation and the communication between her and the CBA.
Leave was also granted to cross examine the police informant.
Ms Manivel made no application for bail and was remanded in jail to return to court with co-accused Mr Singh for a committal on October 11.
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