Bangladesh Bank has filed a new civil suit against a group of 17 Philippine people and companies, including Bloomberry Resorts Corp, operator of the Solaire Resort & Casino in Manila. The case concerns a 2016 cyber-theft in which North Korean hackers stole $81 million. The bank only recouped about $20 million.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, the case was filed with the New York State Court on June. It follows a previous ruling in March by the U.S. District Court that dismissed a previous civil case for failure to state a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claim or RICO conspiracy claim. Bangladesh Bank has also filed an appeal of that decision with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
In 2016, in a series of complex online transactions, North Korean hackers issued 35 fraudulent instructions to transfer almost US$1 billion from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The U.S. bank blocked the majority of those but not before five transactions worth a combined US$101 million were processed.
Bangladesh Bank eventually recouped US$20 million traced to Sri Lanka, however US$81 million transferred to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. in the Philippines was transacted and lost, partially through casinos, including Solaire.
Bloomberry pledged to “vigorously defend itself against these baseless charges.”
