US court rejects appeal of RCBC and 6 accused over BB reserve heist

Staff Reporter :
The New York Supreme Court (State Court) rejected the request to cancel the case filed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation of the Philippines (RCBC) and six defendants on January 13.
In addition, the application of the other accused Kim Aung to cancel the case had also been dismissed.
As a result, there is no hindrance in continuing the case filed by Bangladesh Bank to get back the money heisted from its reserve using cyber means.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the financial intelligence of Bangladesh Bank (BB), disclosed this information in a statement on Monday.
Earlier, on 31 January 2019, BB filed a case with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against 20 individuals and institutions, including RCBC and Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc.
Later, six individuals and organisations including RCBC applied to the concerned court to cancel the case.
On 20 March, 2020 The Federal Court rejected the application to dismiss the case and ordered the case to be handled in the State Court instead of the Federal Court.
Bangladesh Bank filed a new case with New York State Court over heist after the instructions of the Federal Court on May 27, 2020.
Again, six defendants including RCBC applied for cancellation of the case in the new court. After hearing in multiple phases, on 13 January 2023 the court finally rejected the request to cancel the case. The New York Supreme Court said in the latest verdict on 13 January, 2023 that RCBC was an intentional connivance in the theft of Bangladesh Bank’s reserve money from the bank in New York. Without the cooperation of RCBE, there was no way to transfer the money.
The court has ordered the defendants, including RCBC, to file their responses by second of February. In addition, instructions have been given for mediation in this regard.
Experts said that , the recent verdict of the New York Supreme Court showing kind of headway to recover the money heisted from BB reserve.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank cyber heist, one of the largest bank robberies in the history, transferring USD101 million, with USD 20 million traced to Sri Lanka and USD 81 million to the Philippines was took place in February 2016.
All the money transferred to Sri Lanka has since been recovered. So far, only around USD15 million out of the USD81 million transferred to the Philippines has been recovered.