Kim Wong testifying at a Philippine Senate tribunal in March 2016, ultimately cleared him of wrongdoing. His bank accounts were unfrozen this week following the Court of Appeals ruling. (Image: Rappler)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nKim Wong owns the Eastern Hawaii casino resort in the Cagayan economic zone in the Philippines\u2019 far north. In February 2016, US$21 million was wired to an account controlled by Wong from PhilRem, a local foreign exchange brokerage service used for remittances.<\/p>\n
The money was part of the US$101 million stolen by cybercriminals from the Bangladesh Bank\u2019s account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.<\/p>\n
How the Heist Went Down<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe hackers introduced malware into the Bangladesh Bank\u2019s servers. This helped them obtain credentials to authorize 35 requests for transfers from the New York Fed to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka, totaling almost $1 billion.<\/p>\n
Five of the 35 payments were processed before someone at the New York Fed smelled a rat and blocked further transactions.<\/p>\n
Around $20 million ended up in Sri Lanka and was quickly recovered. The rest was transferred to four accounts at Philippines bank RCBC. The accounts had been opened the same day under false names.<\/p>\n
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At RCBC, the money was consolidated into one account and transferred to PhilRem. From there, $21 million was transferred to Wong, $29 million to Bloomberry Resorts\u2019 Solaire resort in Manilla, and $31 million to a mysterious gambler named Weikang Xu, location unknown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Wong told a Philippine Senate tribunal he had been told to expect the money by two high-rolling junket agents, Gao Shuhua and Ding Zhize, whereabouts are also unknown.<\/p>\n
He claimed the two men owed him $10 million in gambling debts. The remaining $11 million was distributed among Gao and Ding\u2019s junket clients. Wong was cleared by the tribunal and has repaid $15 million back to the Bangladesh Bank.<\/p>\n
The appeals court this week upheld the ruling by the trial court. That court found no evidence that Wong had conspired with PhilRem to commit a crime or that he had prior knowledge that the money remitted by PhilRem belonged to the Bangladesh Bank.<\/p>\n
The plaintiff in the case was the Philippines\u2019 Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).<\/p>\n