BB Cyber Heist: Case against Filipino business dismissed

A top United States court has dismissed a Bangladesh Bank case against a Philippines business entity, which was accused in the unprecedented cyber-heist faced by the central bank six years ago, according to media reports.

The central bank filed the case with the Supreme Court of the State of New York in March 2020 against Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and 19 other individuals and entities.

On April 8, the court dismissed the case lodged against Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc (BRHI), the operator of Solaire Resort & Casino, which is located in Manila, said a number of media outlets in the Philippines.

The BB has 30 days to appeal the decision, they said.

The case was brought against BRHI and others, alleging conversion, theft and misappropriation, aiding and abetting and conspiracy to commit the reserve heist.

"We are now waiting to get the copy of the verdict. The BB will take required measures after reviewing it," said Md Serajul Islam, a spokesperson and executive director of the central bank.

Md Masud Biswas, head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), which has been assigned to look after all cases related to the reserve theft, said he was not aware of the development.

It was not clear whether the US court has dismissed the allegations against RCBC, the prime accused in the lawsuit, and other defendants as officials of the BB and the BFIU could not give any details yesterday.

On February 4, 2016, hackers broke into the central bank's system and generated 70 fake payment orders to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York amounting to $1.94 billion.

The NY Fed's security system flagged the payment orders but only five of them fell through and $101 million was released.

Of the amount, $81 million was wired to an RCBC branch in Manila, from where it disappeared into the casino industry in the Philippines. The rest $20 million made its way to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka sent back the entire sum immediately after the heist became public and shook the global financial industry.

Bangladesh recouped less than $20 million of the fund that ended up in the Philippines.

In a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, Bloomberry said the New York Court had last week granted its motion to dismiss the complaint filed by the Bangladesh Bank for a lack of jurisdiction.

In August 2016, the central bank of the Philippines slapped RCBC with a record 1 billion pesos ($21.3 million) fine due to its involvement in the heist.