TD Bank pleaded guilty on Oct. 10 to conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act and money laundering, agreeing to pay about $3 billion in penalties as part of a historic settlement involving multiple regulatory agencies. TD Bank admitted to having “long-term, pervasive, and systemic deficiencies” in its anti-money-laundering (AML) policies, procedures, and controls from January 2014 to October 2023, according to a Department of Justice statement.
These failures allowed criminal networks, including drug traffickers dealing in fentanyl and other narcotics, to launder more than $670 million through the bank’s accounts over several years. “The bank enabled drug trafficking,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said.