TD Bank pays $3 billion in fines for money laundering schemes

TD Bank, one of the 10 largest banks in the US, has admitted to a money laundering conspiracy and now faces a $3 billion fine. The bank reportedly failed to enforce its anti-money laundering policies for years, allowing criminals to easily transfer money unsupervised.

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), between 2019 and 2023, three money laundering schemes processed more than $670 million through the bank. Bank employees received over $57,000 in gift cards from the criminals in exchange for allowing the transactions to pass through.

“Today, TD Bank also becomes the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act program and the first U.S. bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “TD Bank prioritized profits over compliance with the law – a decision that is now costing the bank billions of dollars in penalties.”

Garland noted that employees frequently joked about the money laundering that was permitted at the bank. Even upper management knew about the possible criminal activity but did little to stop it.

According to reports, nearly $18.3 trillion in customer activity went completely unnoticed before the government intervened. However, now TD Bank is actively working to change things, including replacing executives and hiring specialists.

“We know the problems, we fix them. As we move forward, we are ensuring this never happens again,” said TD Bank Group CEO Bharat Masrani, as reported by NPR. “And I am 100% confident that we will get to the other side and come out even stronger.”

TD Bank’s money laundering activities

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo described TD Bank’s continued neglect as “fertile ground” for financing illegal activities such as drug and human trafficking. The bank’s policies were so lax that one person was reportedly able to move $470 million worth of illegal cash through TD branches, even depositing over $1 million “more than once” and sending it out the same day Check and transfer withdrawn. Although the bank employees were concerned, they still allowed the transactions to take place.

In another case, criminal groups were able to transfer $39 million to Colombia through multiple TD Bank accounts. To open the accounts, the schemers used the same Venezuelan passport for identification, which went unnoticed until a bank employee was arrested in connection with the conspiracy.

The DOJ investigation is ongoing and TD Bank is fully cooperating. So far, about two dozen people, including two bank employees, have been prosecuted for their involvement in the money laundering schemes.

Another financial group, Citigroup, ran into trouble with US regulators earlier this year. The banking giant was fined $136 million for risk management failures.