REVEALED: Security firm entrusted with safeguarding billions of dollars from America's biggest banks 'lost track of millions' before Oceans 11-style $30M LA deposit box heist - as series of shocking scandals resurface

The international security firm which robbers stole $30million from in an Easter Sunday heist is facing fresh questions as a string of allegations of lost money, data breaches and poor safety standards resurface.

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

The security giant stores and transports money for America's biggest banks in facilities across the country, as well as holding major government and diplomatic contracts and running security for events. 

After the break-in, serious questions emerged over the security of their sites after thieves were able to slip in and no one noticed the cash was missing until the next day. 

Now a string of historic scandals surrounding the multi-national company have resurfaced with reports of millions of dollars of lost money, data breaches and cover-up schemes. 

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

The Times alleged that 'Garda lost track of millions of dollars inside its vaults, then concealed the missing money from the banks that were its clients.'

At the time, they were storing money for at least five of the nation's biggest banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PNC Bank and TD Bank. They also store money for the federal reserve. 

There are 425 branch offices across 45 countries, according to the company, with 132,000 security professionals.  

Most major US cities have a Garda vault and some of the biggest store over $100million. The vaults are filled with chain link fences and plastic bags and crates stuffed with notes and coins. 

'Court records and interviews depict some of the vaults as chaotic places where employees routinely ignored protocol and lost money,' the Times wrote.

'Some were rife with unsolved thefts and lacked basic safeguards like high-quality security cameras.'

According to their interview with a former branch manager at GardaWorld, Brian Newell, branches were ordered to move thousands of dollars between themselves so bank auditors wouldn't notice missing sums when they visited. 

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

Another branch manager, Jammie Bolton, confirmed to the paper that employees would scramble to move money between banks' accounts when auditors came so that they could show them the amount they expected. 

Newell said: 'They would pretty much bamboozle the auditors, when in fact they have no clue where the money is.'

Other former employees told the outlet that they were shocked by how little the company did to keep track of the cash in its care, and 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 thefts sometimes went unnoticed until clients pointed out money was missing. 

As well as storing money, Garda runs a network of armored trucks that they use to shuttle cash between banks, businesses and their facilities. 

But a separate Times investigation in 2020 alleged that the trucks are poorly maintained, lacking reliable brakes, seatbelts and sometimes even seats. 

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

On Garda's website, they say that 'Government and Diplomatic contracts are part of the lifeblood of GardaWorld' and boast of operations with British and American governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya.

The security of those operations has been called into question following Sunday's break-in and recent reports of serious data breaches at the company. 

On March 22 2024, GardaWorld Cash filed a notice of a data breach with the Attorney General of California, 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 breach in November 2023 where an unauthorized person was able to access customers' names, social security numbers, insurance and health information. 

In the Maine attack, the Attorney General said 39,928 people were affected.  

DailyMail.com contacted GardaWorld for comment. 

As well as money 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 $29million contract to build tent shelters - a project which has now been canceled over environmental concerns - and in Denver too.

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

In Texas, the company built a center at Fort Bliss in El Paso which the U.S. Department of Health And Human Services singled out for substandard living conditions and insufficient training of staff. 

A BBC investigation into the facility uncovered allegations of sexual abuse of children, lice outbreaks and poor nutrition. 

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 over security at the company's facilities. 

It is thought the gang broke in through a hatch on the roof and some how circumnavigated the security systems to access the vaults and escape without raising the alarm. 

While there did not appear to be any damage done to the roof, local news footage showed a patched up hole on the southeastern side of the building. 

Debris lay around it, though it is unclear what this may have been used for or if it was related to Sunday's theft. 

LAPD Commander Elain Morales said cash for businesses across the region is held at the facility. 

The operators of the business, whom police did not themselves identify, did not discover the massive theft until they opened the vault on Monday.

Law enforcement sources told the LA Times that very few people would've known about the massive amounts of cash being stored in the safe that was stolen from.  

The LAPD said it it working with the FBI to solve GardaWorld case. Authorities believe that a crew was responsible for the break-in, though no information about potential suspects was immediately available. 

The break-in is among the largest cash burglaries 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 2024 equivalent of $36.5million from the Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo Street in downtown LA. 

The theft comes nearly two years after as much as $100 million in jewels and other valuables were stolen from a Brink's big rig at a Southern California truck stop.

The cargo trailer was heading for 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, still have not been caught. 

Across the pond, the Sylmar robber has drawn comparison to the Hatton Garden heist in 2015, in which up to $23.4 million was stolen from a safe deposit facility in London's exclusive Hatton Garden district. 

The burglars drilled through the 20inch thick vault walls of the vault over the Easter Weekend, a public holiday in the UK. 

The thieves then took millions of dollars worth of valuable away in wheelable bins.