Back in 2016, The Bangladesh Bank suffered a massive cyber heist. Now, the bank has filed a lawsuit in New York federal court to recover the lost $81 million.
Bangladesh Bank files lawsuit with New York Federal Reserve
The New York Federal Reserve is supporting the Bank by providing technical assistance and International payments network SWIFT has signed an agreement to rebuild its infrastructure.
The lawsuit is filed against Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), for its alleged role in a conspiracy aimed at stealing nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh bank’s New York Federal Reserve account.
RCBC has called the legal action Bangladesh Bank filed on Thursday as beyond the US jurisdiction, “completely baseless” and “nothing more than a thinly veiled PR campaign” to shift blame from itself.
In a statement released to the media, the NY Fed said on Friday, that “the New York Fed and Bangladesh Bank believe that safe and reliable funds transfer services are critical for global financial stability, and that the type of fraud perpetrated on Bangladesh’s account at the New York Fed represents a threat to the international funds transfer system.
This agreement demonstrates that the New York Fed and Bangladesh Bank are aligned in the pursuit of recovering the funds and directing litigation against those who were complicit in or benefited from the fraud.”
A day later, SWIFT too came out in support of the Bangladesh bank. “SWIFT, the New York Fed and Bangladesh Bank have worked together since the cyber fraud event occurred … to recover the entire proceeds of the crime and to bring the perpetrators to justice in cooperation with law enforcement from other jurisdictions,” SWIFT said in a statement.
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