Philippines Forfeiture: $81 Million Seized in Bangladesh Bank Cyber Heist Case

In one of the largest cyber heist cases in Bangladesh’s history, $81 million laundered through the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in the Philippines has been confiscated by court order. After nearly eight and a half years of legal proceedings and international cooperation, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) confirmed the development.

On Sunday, September 21, CID’s Special Superintendent of Police (Media) Jashim Uddin Khan disclosed the information at noon.

He stated that, according to a court order, the confiscated funds were seized by the Philippine authorities as part of the Bangladesh Bank reserve theft case. CID further informed that detailed updates would be shared at a press briefing in the afternoon.

The cyber heist occurred in February 2016, when nearly $101 million was stolen from Bangladesh Bank’s foreign currency reserves held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York through fraudulent SWIFT messages.

Of that amount, about $20 million sent to Sri Lanka was flagged as suspicious and subsequently returned. The remaining $81 million was deposited into fictitious accounts at RCBC’s Jupiter branch in Makati City, Philippines, and was quickly laundered through various casinos.

Following the incident, Bangladesh Bank filed a case and international investigations were launched. Several RCBC officials and affiliates were prosecuted in the Philippines for money laundering. Branch manager Maia Deguito was found guilty.

In 2020, Bangladesh Bank filed a case in a New York court against RCBC and related entities, accusing them of conversion, misappropriation, fraud, and money laundering.

So far, authorities had only been able to recover around $15 million from a casino owner, while the majority of the funds remained untraceable. Officials now believe that the court-ordered confiscation of $81 million marks a significant breakthrough in the case’s progress.