Receiving a lot of money at any given point in time may make one lose their head. We have often heard of reports where families that receive a lottery end up on a spending spree- and then lose it all. And if we’re to focus on it- we would realize that more often than not, such a huge sum ends up being a curse. Recently, a cryptocurrency trader that is famous for using Matt Damon as part of their advertising refunded a sum of $10.5 million to a woman in Melbourne.
The original refund amount was only $100 and the trader should have given that amount to one Thevamanogari Manivel, back in 2021. And yet, they mistakenly entered the bank account number in place of the amount number. The mistake amounted to a sum of $10,474,143. The company audit only discovered it last year, around Christmas 2021.[1]
In such a situation, we would always have two kinds of individuals before us. The first kind would make sure that the company gets notified of the mistake. They would keep the money safe- and return it when asked for. The other type involved an individual who would keep quiet about it and spend it. Manivel apparently took up the latter option. But interestingly, she didn’t keep the refund money all to herself. Manivel shared the money among quite a number of family members as well as friends. The list included her sister and daughter, Thilagavathy Gangadory.
The woman also took out a sum of $1.35 million from this refund money to purchase a mansion for her daughter. This palatial residence has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a cinema, and also a home gym. They were living a life fit for kings until the company came calling for them to pay the sum back. With no response being provided from Manivel, the company then started legal proceedings.
The Status Of The Mistaken Refund
While the legal proceedings had resulted in freezing the woman’s accounts, it was too late at that point. She had already transferred a large part of the money to a completely different joint account. Furthermore, she had issued a large sum to her daughter. This resulted in freezing orders on the daughter’s accounts as well since it was this money that Thevamanogari used to purchase the sumptuous property at Craigieburn. With the case ongoing, the Supreme Court of Victoria ruled in favor of the company on August 26th, 2022. The decision went uncontested, as both the daughter and their legal team failed to appear.[2]
The preceding Judge stated, “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. Thus, Gangadory was unjustly enriched by receiving the purchase price of the Craigieburn property out of the wrongful payment. Accordingly, I was satisfied that the orders relating to the sale of the Craigieburn property were appropriate.” The woman’s sister was ordered to pay the sum involved in purchasing the property.
The Judge also claimed that since the daughter “had not responded to any of the correspondence from (Crypto.com’s) solicitors”, this meant that “the effect of not filing an appearance is that the allegations in the statement of claim are taken to be admitted.” The company has also levied multiple cases to retrieve the rest of the refund money that Manivel has already transferred. The crypto firm’s lawyers were unable to provide comment- as a court of law was already looking into the matter
Sources
- “Family mistakenly given $10.4million instead of $100 refund go on a massive spending spree and buy their dream home – but now have to pay it ALL back.” Daily Mail. Padraig Cs. August 31, 2022.
- “Family go on spending spree after they’re given $10.4 million instead of $100 refund.” Unilad. Daisy Phillipson. August 31, 2022.