New York court claims jurisdiction over Bangladesh Bank heist case vs RCBC

The Supreme Court of the State of New York has denied motions filed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and its current and previous employees seeking to dismiss the suit initiated by Bangladesh Bank in connection with the 2016 cyber heist.

In February 2016, around $81 million of funds that Bangladesh Bank, the central bank the South Asian nation, kept in its account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York were found to have been stolen. The monies were traced to an account in RCBC, converted into pesos by remittance companies, returned to an RCBC account then withdrawn and moved to several Philippine casinos.

Over $61 million of those funds have yet to be recovered. Bangladesh Bank filed the suit against RCBC and its various employees, including the former manager of the branch where the funds were deposited and withdrawn within days.

RCBC told the stock exchange the New York court’s ruling only touched on its jurisdiction over the case “and is not in any way, a finding of liability on the part of RCBC or any of the individual defendants.”

The Philippine lender said the court even directed the parties involved in the case “to mediate the dispute.”

RCBC said it will continue to defend itself “vigorously and is considering all options, including the possibility of an appeal against the denial of the motions to dismiss.”