Canadian Western Bank Caught in $14M Crypto Theft Drama

Something straight out of a movie happened earlier this year: Canadian Western Bank lost over $14 million to hackers — and now a Vancouver crypto company is tangled up in the fallout. Back in January, cybercriminals somehow got access to the bank’s internal system — specifically their accounts payable — and managed to quietly move more than $14.2 million out. They tried to steal even more, nearly $8 million, but that part of the plan didn’t go through.

Here’s where things get messier.

The stolen money was quickly converted into cryptocurrency — mostly Bitcoin and Ethereum — and the transactions were processed through a local company called Aquanow, which helps businesses buy and sell crypto.

Canadian Western Bank went to court shortly after and got a judge to freeze Aquanow’s accounts at BMO, believing they were involved — or at least a path the money flowed through. But when the matter came back in front of a judge, that freeze was removed. The court found that Aquanow had no clear connection to the theft and wasn’t even aware of what happened. In fact, Aquanow had flagged the strange activity to authorities on their own.

The judge wasn’t too pleased with the bank either. She said they left out important info — like how Aquanow is a regulated and licensed business — and said their actions went a bit too far.

There’s another strange piece to this puzzle. A 24-year-old man from Ottawa was linked to a bank account used in the heist, but he says he had no idea anything was going on. He didn’t lose money, but now his name is in court documents, and he’s shocked to be caught up in the mess.

As for Canadian Western Bank, they’re standing by their actions, saying they were just trying to get their money back. Aquanow, on the other hand, says they’ve cooperated with authorities the whole time and still haven’t heard anything from police.

This whole situation raises big questions about how banks and crypto companies handle fraud, and how fast cybercriminals are evolving to work around security systems.