A cryptocurrency enthusiast who splurged millions of dollars after mistakenly receiving a huge refund has been jailed. Jatinder Singh, 39, was jailed for three years in the Victorian County Court on Tuesday, ending a two-year court case that generated global headlines for the significant error. “For reasons known only to that organisation the overpayment was not discovered for many months,” Judge Martine Marich said.
“Your offending was entirely situationally motivated and you are most unlikely to offend again.” The court was told Singh and his then partner Thevamanogari Manivel, 41, saw $10.47m land in her bank account in May 2021 after the international exchange made a “significant accounting mistake”.
Singh, who held a Crypto.com portfolio, had used Manivel’s Commonwealth Bank account to attempt to deposit $100 just days earlier, but it was rejected because the account names did not match up. A Bulgarian-based staff member accidentally typed her account number into an Excel document instead of what should have been a $100 refund.
Singh discovered the overpayment the following day, instructing Manivel to transfer the funds to a joint account in an effort to avoid it being clawed back. An internal audit by Crpyto.com discovered the mistake seven months later in December 2021, and the company began chasing Commonwealth Bank.
Manivel was contacted several times by both Commonwealth Bank and Crypto.com but would later tell police she thought these were scam attemp.