Bangladesh's former central bank chief among suspects in $101 million cyber heist

Ten years after hackers used fraudulent SWIFT messages to attempt nearly $1.94 billion in transfers from Bangladesh Bank's New York Federal Reserve account (five transactions succeeded, moving $101 million, of which $20 million was later recovered from Sri Lanka), Bangladesh's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is preparing a draft chargesheet identifying 65-70 suspects across seven countries, including former Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman, who led the bank from May 2009 until his resignation on March 15, 2016 in the scandal's aftermath. Investigators are examining whether Rahman approved linking the bank's SWIFT server to its domestic RTGS payment system without adequate risk assessment; roughly ten current or former central bank officials are among the named suspects.

No outcome recorded yet.