Indian-origin Sikh on trial for $10.4mn crypto bungle in Melbourne
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Oct, 2022 04:49 PM
Sydney, Oct 11 (IANS) An Indian-origin Sikh and his partner, who received $10.4 million from a cryptocurrency company by mistake, will face trial in Australia over allegations that they spent the money on items including a $1.2 million house.
Jatinder Singh, 37, and his partner, Thevamanogari Manivel, 40, appeared by video link from prison in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where they were committed to stand trial over theft and other charges, the Canberra Times reported.
Crypto.com intended to refund Manivel $100 but she was erroneously transferred $10,474,143. The company noticed its mistake when an audit was conducted in December 2021.
A subsequent probe found that an employee in Bulgaria, who processed the refund in May 2021, had incorrectly entered $10.4 million into an Excel spreadsheet.
Even though that Crypto.com account was in Singh's name, the transfer was sent to Manivel's account as he used her bank card to buy cryptocurrency, the Melbourne Magistrates Court was told.
Singh allegedly thought he won the money after being sent a notification from the Crypto.com app about a competition. This was also what he told Manivel, a Malaysian national.
Investigations have since revealed that $4 million of the money was allegedly transferred to an offshore bank account with other amounts spent on items including a $1.2 million home in Craigieburn and three other properties, a car, art, furniture and gifts to friends in Melbourne of more than $1 million each, a report in The Age said.
Manivel, presently out on bail, was arrested at Melbourne Airport in March 2022 while allegedly trying to fly home to Malaysia on a one-way ticket with about $11,000 in cash.
The couple will face directions hearing in the County Court on November 8.
A group of former Disney employees has dropped their lawsuit against the entertainment giant in which they accused it of discriminating against them by replacing them with H1B visa holders, mostly Indians.
The Dabbawalas ferry tiffins of home-made food to thousands of office-goers in the city every day. They also provide free food outside these three hospitals to the relatives of patients who come from far-away places.
Two Indian-origin men have been charged by federal authorities in the US with securities and wire fraud for inflating the value of private funds they advised by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 46, was detained along with eight others Indian nationals by Australian Border Force (ABF) officers at the Brisbane Airport in March because his companions’ accreditation was not genuine, Brisbane Times reported.
US President Donald Trump nominated Diane Gujarati, a prosecutor of Indian descent, to a federal judgeship on Thursday in an unusual move as she had been former President Barack Obama's choice for the position.
