Ray-Ban

History

2019: Theft of $272m from bank accounts

On January 4, 2023, it became known about the theft of $272 million from the accounts of the manufacturer of Ray-Bay glasses. The theft took place back in 2019.

According to The Register, a federal judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit against JP Morgan Chase Bank, according to which the bank ignored signs of cyber intrusion, as a result of which $272 million was stolen from the accounts of the manufacturer of Ray-Ban glasses.

Hackers stole $272 million from the accounts of the manufacturer Ray-Ban

Earlier, Essilor Manufacturing (EMTC), the Thai arm of eyewear maker Ray-Ban, filed a lawsuit against JP Morgan alleging negligence. It is alleged that the American bank did not respond in any way to suspicious transactions and "alarms" related to the status of the plaintiffs' account. In particular, EMTC says that JP Morgan did not pay attention to the fact that the company's monthly transfer volume increased from an average of $15 million to more than $100 million. In addition, as noted, fraudulent transfers were carried out in round amounts (without cents), which is radically different from the previous flow of transactions. The lawsuit says that since September 2019, the attackers have carried out 243 operations, withdrawing about $272.2 million from the EMTC account.

However, Judge Lewis Liman disagreed with the statements of the injured party that JP Morgan violated the contract and was negligent in relation to the client. The bank itself emphasizes that EMTC filed a lawsuit more than two years after the last fraudulent transaction in December 2019: under the terms of service, it is too late. In addition, as noted by JP Morgan, EMTC for some reason for about four months failed to track the loss of money from its account and, ultimately, take into account more than a quarter of a billion dollars.

EMTC was able to return about $172 million of $272 million. According to a court order, the company can file a lawsuit for reimbursement of the remaining $100 million in accordance with a New York law requiring banks to reimburse unauthorized payment orders from a client.^[1]

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