The central bank of Bangladesh has reportedly said the New York Federal Reserve suffered a “major lapse” when it handled a series of fraudulent transfers amounting to $101 million last month.
The New York Fed blocked 30 transactions valued at $850 million in early Feb. Due to questions about the recipients, Bloomberg reports, citing an internal document from the Bangladesh Bank dated March 13. The New York Fed cleared another five transactions, later marking them for “due diligence review.”
Those five transactions that slipped through resulted in $81 million winding up in the Philippines, where the banks apparently lost track of the funds’ movement. Another $20 million were caught in Sri Lanka before being returned.
“We view this as a major lapse on the part of [the New York Fed],” the internal document states . It also says that the Bangladesh Bank is looking “to establish precise grounds of initiating lawsuit claiming recompense.”
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The New York Fed did not immediately reply to Coins2Day’s request for comment. In a previous statement, the bank maintained that it is not guilty of any wrongdoing.
“The payment instructions in question were fully authenticated by the SWIFT messaging system in accordance with standard authentication protocols,” the New York Fed said earlier this month, adding that it “has been working with the [Bangladesh] central bank since the incident occurred, and will continue to provide assistance as appropriate.”
A spokesperson for the Bangladesh Bank also did not immediately reply to Coins2Day’s request for comment.
