| Bangladesh
Central Bank Sues In SDNY For
2016 Hack Of $81 Million Twist
on FCPA Venue
By Matthew
Russell Lee
FEDERAL
COURTHOUSE, January 31 – The
Bangladeshi Central Bank which
was hacked for $81 million in
February 2016, has now sued in
the US District Court for the
Southern District of New York.
The case is Bangladesh Bank v
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp
et al, U.S. District Court,
Southern District of New York,
No. 19-00983. The first
paragraph of the 103 page
complaint reads, "This
litigation involves a massive,
multi-year conspiracy to carry
out one of the largest banks
heists in modern history right
here in New York City. On
February 4, 2016, thieves
reached into a bank account at
the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York (“New York Fed”) and
stole approximately $101
million (out of the nearly $1
billion they attempted to
steal). The bank account was
held for the benefit of
Bangladesh Bank, which is
Bangladesh’s Central Bank.
Bangladesh Bank has had a
45-year banking relationship
under which it has placed its
international reserves with
the New York Fed. The New York
Fed is a critical component of
the United States’ central
banking system and its link to
the international financial
system." Bangladesh's lawyers
on the case are "COZEN
O’CONNOR John J. Sullivan,
Esq. Jesse Loffler, Esq.
Yehudah Gordon, Esq." We'll
have more on this.
Debaprasad
Debnath, a general manager at
the central bank’s Financial
Intelligence Unit, Joint
Director Mohammad Abdur Rab
and Account and Budgeting
Department General Manager
Zakir Hossain all left Dhaka
to head to New York, for the
filing of the lawsuit, which
Inner City Press will be
following.
They say the
Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, which on January 29 was
instructed by the US State
Department to allow Juan
Guaido to access Venezuelan
accounts, will be helping its
Bangladeshi counterpart to get
to the bottom of the
hack. Those eyed include
Philippines’ Rizal Commercial
Banking Corporation or RCBC
and some of its officials, and
Philrem Service Corporation,
casino owners and
beneficiaries. Ajmalul Hossain
QC, a lawyer for the central
bank, is with them to file the
case.
It is an
interesting twist on the SDNY
as venue for the money
laundering and FCPA
prosecution of Patrick Ho of
CEFC for bribery in Chad and
to Uganda - in this case, too,
the money flowed through New
York. Inner City Press intends
to cover the case.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold
Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2019 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
