Philippine casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp said in a Wednesday filing it had received a copy through the mail of a May 29 civil summons relating to a follow-up court case in the United States about the 2016 Bangladesh Bank heist. The online theft allegedly netted US$81 million, and some of it was allegedly channelled via Philippine casinos.
Bloomberry, the operator of Solaire Resort and Casino (pictured) in the Philippine capital, Manila, said this time the bank was using New York State Court to accuse Bloomberry’s unit Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc – and 16 other parties – of a number of things.
The list included: “conversion/ theft/ misappropriation”; “conspiracy to commit fraud”; “trespass against chattels”; and “unjust enrichment”. There was also a demand for “return of money received”.
In a June 1 filing, Bloomberry had said it was aware of the new lawsuit, but had not been served with it as of that date, adding its unit would “vigorously defend itself against these baseless charges”.
In March, the first legal case against Bloomberry concerning the Bangladesh Bank heist – that had been filed in January 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York – was dismissed. In April, the Bangladesh Bank had appealed against that dismissal decision made by the U.S. District Court.
In September 2018, it had been reported that the U.S. government had charged and sanctioned a North Korean man – Park Jin Hyok – for hacking into Bangladesh Bank’s systems.
