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Disability care worker Thevamanogari Manivel was handed a shortcut – an extraordinary unearned windfall – and could not resist the temptation to try to take it.
She was working a low-paying and physically intensive job when $10.5 million – and not the $100 she was expecting – appeared in her bank account from a foreign cryptocurrency firm.
A previous sketch of Thevamanogari Manivel in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.Credit: Nine News
Judge Martine Marich put what happened next down to self-interest: “It represented a shortcut to the financial goal that you had previously endeavoured to pursue through your sheer hard work.”
It took six months for the crypto firm to realise its error but by then, Manivel had transferred $4 million to accounts in Malaysia. She was later arrested attempting to flee Australia with $11,750 in cash.
In the County Court on Friday, the 41-year-old was sentenced to 209 days in prison – which she served after her arrest last year – and handed an 18-month community corrections order with 200 hours of community work.
Manivel was convicted of recklessly dealing with $4 million of proceeds of crime after currency giant crypto.com mistakenly deposited a total $10.5 million into her Commonwealth Bank account instead of a $100 refund.
Marich found Manivel’s actions were opportunistic and precipitated by extraordinary circumstances.
“The quantum of your offending is grave, i.e. $4 million, which was dispersed after you had been warned that you had come into possession of the victim’s property via their unfortunate mistake,” Marich found.
“Most of the $10 million that was deposited mistakenly in your account, I understand, has been recovered.
“I find that your offending was opportunistic precipitated by the most extraordinary of circumstances, that is the unexpected windfall of the $10 million deposited into your account.”
Manivel has returned more than $8 million and settled with the crypto company, but not before she tried to transfer millions overseas and fly out of Australia with thousands in cash.
Manivel did not speak during the short hearing, appearing from the offices of her lawyer.
Marich found that prosecution accepted that it could not prove Manivel’s “sinister intent” until the point at which she was warned by the Commonwealth Bank of the mistake.
“At this point, though, your behaviour turns cynical and was motivated by self-interest.”
The court heard that another person opened an account on crypto.com and that $100 was deposited into it from Manivel’s bank account. Detecting the inconsistency between the name of the account and origin of the funds, crypto.com said it would refund the money to Manivel.
But, when a company staffer went to process the refund on May 11, 2021, instead of putting $100 onto the transfer document they typed the account number, 10474143.
The error meant that instead of the $100 to which Manivel was entitled, $10,474,143 was deposited into her bank account.
Two days later, the payment was discovered by another person, and they allegedly told Manivel to immediately transfer funds from her Commonwealth Bank account to a Westpac account, and they began to spend it.
Manivel was sentenced in the County Court on Friday.Credit: Justin McManus
About six months later, in December 2021, an audit by crypto.com revealed the error. The company contacted the Commonwealth Bank, which tracked Manivel down on January 5, 2022 and again on January 13. She later told police she believed both messages were scam calls.
She was arrested at Melbourne Airport trying to flee to Malaysia with $11,750.
Having moved to Australia, Manivel worked labouring jobs on farms and as a supermarket cashier, and intended to have her children join her here.
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