On October 10, Attorney General Merrick Garland, alongside other Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, announced that TD Bank pled guilty to multiple felonies, including conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act and commit money laundering. The penalties amount to approximately $3 billion in fines, marking the largest penalty in U.S. history under the Bank Secrecy Act.

TD Bank’s admitted to facilitating $670 million in illicit funds through its inadequate compliance program from 2014 to 2023. So far only two employees have been charged individually.

“Today, TD Bank pled guilty to multiple felonies, including conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act and commit money laundering,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “TD Bank created an environment that allowed financial crime to flourish. By making its services convenient for criminals, it became one.”

Austin Campbell, adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, highlights the opacity in traditional finance as a key factor. He argues that while new financial technologies receive much scrutiny, longstanding institutions have facilitated far larger sums of illicit funds, according to The Federal Newswire. Campbell pointed out that traditional banks laundered over $2 trillion between 1999 and 2017, often avoiding the level of regulatory attention seen in other sectors.

While the DOJ's investigation into TD Bank continues, the broader conversation about fair regulatory enforcement persists. Public blockchains provide transparency missing in traditional systems, yet enforcement still focuses heavily on newer technologies.

According to a Grand View Research report, the global anti-money laundering market size was valued at USD 1.51 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.0% from 2024 to 2030.

Based on data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the number of money laundering cases has increased by 14.3% in recent years, with 1,132 offenses reported in fiscal year 2023.