The Treasury Department announced that it is imposing more than $1.21 billion in penalties on Bank of America for violations of sanctions and anti-money laundering laws, including by facilitating payments that may have involved Chinese money laundering networks and criminals operating on the southern border.
The Treasury announced the action on Tuesday afternoon after markets closed. The $1.2 billion penalty is the third-largest penalty imposed by the Treasury in history. The penalties are part of the administration’s efforts to go after banks that don’t meet sanctions and anti-money laundering obligations, according to the Treasury.
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That $1.2 billion includes a $750 million civil money penalty by the Comptroller of the Currency for Bank of America’s “deficient and ineffective” anti-money laundering compliance program, according to a news release.
“Financial institutions are on the front lines of protecting our economic and national security,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks.”
“Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institution
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The Treasury said that, as part of the resolution with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Bank of America admits it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act and failed to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program.
“As a result of these failures, Bank of America failed to timely report to FinCEN over $5 billion dollars in suspicious transactions, with over $1 billion of this activity implicating national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks, including suspicious transactions indicative of Chinese Money Laundering Networks, fraud, and potential trade-based money laundering with a substantial nexus to the southwest border,” the news release said.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
