A US court has dismissed a civil case filed by Bangladesh Bank against a range of Philippines individuals and companies, including a subsidiary of Solaire Resort & Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp, Bloomberry Resorts & Hotels Inc, related to the 2016 theft of US$81 million by cyber hackers.
The infamous incident saw hackers issue 35 fraudulent instructions to transfer almost US$1 billion from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The US 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 that was 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 where some of the funds were used to purchase gaming chips and play in junket rooms.
Bangladesh Bank subsequently launched RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) claims against multiple defendants to recoup its losses, but Bloomberry revealed on Monday that the United States District Court, Southern District of New York had dismissed the claim due to a failure to state a RICO claim or RICO conspiracy claim.
The court also declined to exercise its supplemental jurisdiction over remaining state law claims, although it denied the defendants’ other joint motions to dismiss based on “lack of subject matter jurisdiction and forum non conveniens.”
The case had aimed to recoup the US$81 million alleged to have been lost as a result of the hackers breaking into Bangladesh Bank’s systems.
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