GGRAsia – US$26mln of heist cash went via Bloomberry: lawsuit

US$26mln of heist cash went via Bloomberry: lawsuit

Mar 06, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Philippine-based casino developer Bloomberry Resorts Corp said in a Tuesday filing that a United States lawsuit claims that nearly PHP1.37 billion (US$26.2 million) of the cash stolen from Bangladesh Bank in an alleged 2016 online heist passed through the casino group’s resort-operating unit.

Bloomberry Resorts had said last week that its unit Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc – operator of the Solaire Resort and Casino in the Philippine capital Manila – was among the defendants in the civil action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. At that time it didn’t mention an amount for the claim.

It had been reported at the time news of the alleged theft broke, that an aggregate of US$81 million was involved and had then entered the Philippine financial system, with some of the cash allegedly being channelled via several Philippine casinos.

The Bloomberry Resorts group stated in a Tuesday filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange: “Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc is impleaded as one of 17 Philippine companies and individuals in the suit because the amount of PHP1.365 billion of alleged stolen funds passed through Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels’ bank account in that incident in 2016.”

Last week the Bloomberry parent said its unit was a “victim” in the case, and it blamed the loss on the “complicity and negligence” of people unconnected with the group. Bloomberry Resorts had added that its operating unit would defend itself against the suit.

On Tuesday Bloomberry Resorts reported an annual profit of nearly PHP7.17 billion for 2018, up 18 percent from the year before.