REVEALED: Security firm tasked with securing billions of dollars from America’s biggest banks ‘lost track of millions’ before Ocean’s 11-ish $30 million LA vault heist – as series of shocking scandals resurface

The international security firm whose robbers stole $30 million in an Easter Sunday heist is facing new questions as a series of allegations of lost money, data breaches and poor security standards resurface.

Brazen thieves stole $30 million under cover of darkness from the cash vaults of the GardaWorld facility in the San Fernando Valley, near Los Angeles, in one of the biggest robberies in city history on Sunday.

The security giant stores and transports money for America’s largest banks in facilities across the country, and also manages major government and diplomatic contracts and arranges security for events.

Following the break-in, serious questions were raised about the security of their locations after thieves were able to sneak in and no one noticed the money was missing until the next day.

Now a series of historic scandals surrounding the multinational have resurfaced, with reports of millions of dollars in lost money, data breaches and cover-ups.

In 2020, Tampa Bay Times published an extensive investigation into a pattern of accidents and losses at GardaWorld facilities.

The Times claimed that ‘Garda lost track of millions of dollars in its safes and then hid the missing money from the banks that were its customers.’

At the time, they held money for at least five of the country’s largest banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PNC Bank and TD Bank. They also store money for the federal reserve.

According to the company, there are 425 offices in 45 countries, with 132,000 security professionals.

Most major US cities have a Garda vault and some of the largest stores worth over $100 million. The vaults are filled with fences and plastic bags and crates filled with banknotes and coins.

“Court documents and interviews describe some vaults as chaotic places where employees routinely ignored protocol and lost money,” the Times wrote.

“Some were full of unsolved thefts and lacked basic amenities such as high-quality security cameras.”

According to their interview with a former branch manager at GardaWorld, Brian Newell, the branches were instructed to move thousands of dollars among themselves so that bank auditors would not notice missing amounts when they visited.

In total, the Times estimated they were missing $9 million.

Another branch manager, Jammie Bolton, confirmed to the newspaper that employees rushed to move money between bank accounts when accountants arrived so they could show them the expected amount.

Newell said, “They would be pretty much fooling the accountants, when in fact they have no idea where the money is.”

Other former employees told the outlet they were shocked by how little the company did to keep the money under its control, and that there were too many losses to make it a series of mistakes.

Former managers told the Times that employees had “ample opportunity” to steal, and that thefts sometimes went unnoticed until customers pointed out money was missing.

In addition to storing money, Garda operate a network of armored trucks that they use to transport cash between banks, businesses and their facilities.

But a separate 2020 Times investigation claimed the trucks are poorly maintained and lack reliable brakes, seat belts and sometimes even seats.

They found that hundreds of people had been injured in Garda crashes and that at least 19 people had been killed at the time.

On the Garda website they say that ‘government and diplomatic contracts are part of the lifeblood of GardaWorld’ and boast of operations with British and US governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya.

The security of these operations has been called into question following Sunday’s breach and recent reports of serious data breaches at the company.

On March 22, 2024, GardaWorld Cash filed a data breach notice with the California Attorney General, and weeks later, on April 17, they filed another notice with regulators in Maine for a data breach.

They had discovered that they had been the target of a breach in November 2023, in which an unauthorized individual had access to customer names, social security numbers, insurance and health information.

The attack in Maine affected 39,928 people, according to the attorney general.

DailyMail.com contacted GardaWorld for comment.

In addition to cash storage and security, GardaWorld has been hired to set up and run migrant shelters in major US cities.

They were hired by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson under a $29 million contract to build tent shelters — a project now canceled due to environmental concerns — and also in Denver.

The Denver project was canceled after community organizers pointed to Garda’s poor record of building shelters in Canada and Texas.

In Texas, the company built a center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, which was designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for substandard living conditions and inadequate workforce training.

a BBC investigation Upon entering the facility, allegations of child sexual abuse, lice outbreaks and poor nutrition came to light.

In a statement at the time, GardaWorld said they were not responsible for ‘case management’ at the site.

Sunday’s break-in raised more serious questions about the security of the company’s facilities.

It is thought the gang broke in through a hatch on the roof and somehow bypassed the security systems to access the safes and escape without raising the alarm.

Although there appeared to be no damage to the roof, local news footage showed a repaired hole on the southeast side of the building.

There was debris around it, but it is unclear what it could have been used for or whether it was related to Sunday’s theft.

LAPD Commander Elain Morales said cash for businesses throughout the region is kept at the facility.

The company’s operators, whom police themselves have not identified, only discovered the massive theft when they opened the safe on Monday.

Law enforcement sources told the LA Times that very few people would have been aware of the vast amounts of cash stored in the safe from which it was stolen.

The LAPD said it is working with the FBI to resolve the GardaWorld case. Authorities believe a crew was responsible for the burglary, although information on potential suspects was not immediately available.

The burglary is one of the largest cash thefts in Los Angeles history.

The next biggest case was the Dunbar Armored robbery in 1997, in which six men robbed a similar facility to GardaWorld.

The six men took the equivalent of $36.5 million from the Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo Street in downtown LA in 2024.

The theft comes almost two years after as much as $100 million worth of jewelry and other valuables was stolen stolen from Brink’s big oil rig at a truck stop in Southern California.

The cargo trailer was headed to a jewelry show in Pasadena and the driver decided to stop at a rest stop before someone broke in and stole the cargo.

To this day, the thief or thieves have still not been caught.

Across the pond, the Sylmar robber has been compared to the 2015 Hatton Garden heist, in which up to $23.4 million was stolen from a safe in London’s exclusive Hatton Garden district.

The burglars drilled through the 50 cm thick vault walls of the safe during the Easter weekend, a public holiday in Great Britain.

The thieves then took millions of dollars worth of valuables in mobile bins.