Bank of America Fined 1.2 Billion Dollars Over Money Laundering Failures

(Bank of America. Photo Credit: X/Instablog)

The US Treasury has fined Bank of America $1.2 billion for breaking anti-money laundering and sanctions rules.

It is the third largest penalty the department has ever issued.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that even the biggest banks are not above the law.

The fine was set by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which said the bank failed to deal with serious national security risks.

These include Chinese money laundering networks and illegal money moving along the US southwest border.

Of the total, $750 million goes to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the largest fine that agency has ever imposed.

Bank of America also agreed to pay $11.6 million to settle sanctions violations involving Iran, Russia, narcotics and global terrorism.

The bank admitted it willfully broke the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act.

The bank said it takes financial crime compliance seriously.

It said it has spent billions on technology and thousands of staff to fight financial crime, and that it is working to fix the problems raised by regulators.

The penalty is smaller only than a roughly $4 billion settlement with Binance in 2023 and a roughly $3 billion settlement with TD Bank the following year.