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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Thu Apr 28, 2016, 09:21 AM Apr 2016

Philippine anti-money laundering body says remittance firm a 'cleaning house' in heist

Source: Reuters

Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:21am EDT

Philippine anti-money laundering body says remittance firm a 'cleaning house' in heist

A Philippine anti-money laundering body has lodged a complaint against owners of a remittance firm it called a "cleaning house" to hide the trail of $81 million looted from a Bangladesh bank, in one of the biggest cyber heists in history.

Philrem Service Corporation muddied the process and washed the stolen funds via a web of transfers and currency conversions around Philippine bank accounts, before moving it into Manila casinos and junket operators, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said in the filing dated Wednesday.

Philrem has denied wrongdoing.

Unidentified hackers infiltrated the computers at Bangladesh Bank, the central bank, in early February and tried to transfer some $951 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

All but one of the 35 attempted transfers were to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp in the Philippines. Most were blocked, but $81 million went to four fictitious accounts at one RCBC branch in Manila.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-bangladesh-philippines-idUSKCN0XP1QQ
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