MANILA, Philippines (AP) – A Chinese casino junket operator on Thursday returned $4.63 million of the $81 million that hackers stole from the Bangladesh central bank’s account in the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and laundered in Manila’s casinos, officials said.
Kam Sin Wong, a longtime Manila-based businessman, surrendered the money from one of the world’s largest cyberheists to Philippine anti-money laundering officials and the Bangladeshi ambassador.
Ambassador John Gomes thanked Philippine officials and said Bangladeshi investigators will fly to Manila next week and coordinate with their Filipino counterparts to find out how the stolen money was funneled into the Philippines and who was responsible.
“The whole world is looking upon Bangladesh … what we are going to do to recover this money,” Gomes told a news conference after receiving the partial amount with Philippine authorities at Manila’s central bank.
The $4.63 million will be kept in a vault at the Philippine central bank until arrangements are made for its return to Bangladesh, said Julia Bacay Abad of the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council.