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Suddenly more than $10m richer after a bungle at Crypto.com, a couple ignored efforts to resolve the mistake fearing it was a “scam”, a court has been told.
The Oscar-winner became the face of crypto.com last year, and has fronted a “tone deaf” new commercial which hasn’t gone down well with fans.
Jatinder Singh, 38, appeared in the Victorian County Court on Monday, pleading guilty to a single rolled-up charge of theft — encompassing 160 transactions totalling $6,090,020.47.
Outlining the case, prosecutor Campbell Thomson said the saga began when Singh used his partner’s bamk account to transfer $100 into a newly-opened Crypto.com account in May 2021.
Jatinder Singh pleaded guilty to the theft of more than $6m mistakenly refunded from Crypto.com in May 2021. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Liam Beatty
But he received an email saying the platform had declined the deposit and would refund it because there was a “mismatch” between the names on both accounts.
Days later, a staff member made a “significant accounting mistake”, Mr Thomson said, instead setting Singh’s partner’s, Thevamanogari Manivel, bank account number as the amount to be returned, depositing $10.47m into her account.
The error wasn’t discovered until seven months later when an internal audit at Crypto.com identified the missing money.
But just two days after the refund, Singh had called Manivel, saying he’d won an online prize, and asking her to move the money to a joint account.
That afternoon she attended a Commonwealth Bank at her local shopping centre, withdrawing $10m as a bank cheque.
“This was done because Mr Singh knew he had received the mistake and wanted to move before the transaction could be reversed,” Mr Thomson told the court.
Over the coming months the couple went on a spending spree, purchasing properties and even giving a man $1m as a “gift”.
Part of the windfall was used to purchase a $1.35m Craigieburn property. Picture: Realestate.com
By December the same year Crypto.com had contacted the Commonwealth Bank and asked them to return the funds.
The bank obliged, contacting Manivel several times over the coming month, saying it was a “mistake and she would have to return it”.
She refused, transferring $4m to an overseas account in Malaysia and was arrested at Tullamarine Airport on March 17 with a one-way ticket.
Singh, who had split with Manivel in early 2022, was arrested a week later.
Mr Thomson told the court during a police interview, Singh claimed he “honestly believed” he’d won the money in an online competition.
“I didn’t think about it because it’s money coming in my name,” Singh said.
Mr Thomson said Crypto.com had not held any competitions at the time.
Pleading guilty, Manivel admitted she was “reckless” in dealing with $4m of the money. Picture: Supplied.
Singh, the court was told, intended to “permanently deprive” Commonwealth Bank of the money. Picture: Supplied.
Manivel told police Singh had explained it away as an online win and when she was contacted she believed it was a “scam call”.
“She said she contacted Commonwealth Bank and was told it was most likely a scam call,” Mr Thomson said.
The court was told about $7 to $8 million of the mistakenly sent money had since been recovered.
Manivel was sentenced to 209 days in prison, recognised as time already served, and placed on a 18-month community corrections order in September after pleading guilty to a charge of recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Singh will return to court in February for a pre-sentence hearing after his barrister, Martin Kozlowski, asked for an adjournment to get a medical report ready.
Outside of court, he said he was “sorry” for the offending and hoped to move on with his life.
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