US$3 billion fine for allowing criminal activity
Another example of howshprt sellers and criminals hide behind loose control measures at major banks to commit illegal actions.
GlobalNews article: Ex-TD Bank anti-money laundering employee in U.S. faces criminal charge.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10858905/td-bank-money-laundering-employee-criminal-charge-us/
The indictment comes shortly after TD Bank’s U.S. arm pleaded guilty to violating a U.S. law aimed at preventing money laundering— the largest bank ever to do so — and was hit with a historic US$3 billion fine.
In its indictment of TD Bank’s U.S. divisions last year, the U.S. government had accused TD of ignoring multiple red flags from high-risk customers and creating a “convenient” environment for money laundering.
TD’s failure on money laundering controls allowed criminals to launder more than US$670 million through the bank over six years, including profits from fentanyl trafficking., according to U.S. authorities.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and a frequent critic of financial institutions, wrote to the U.S. attorney general last week that the settlement failed to hold corporate executives accountable.
Warren said both executives and the bank itself were able to escape the full scope of penalties that Congress could have levied, despite allowing the bank “to act as a criminal slush fund and hurt hundreds of thousands of people.”