U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said TD Bank’s anti-money laundering (AML) failures" were known at every level of the institution.
“TD Bank’s anti-money laundering failures were well-known at every level of the bank,” said Sellinger during a press conference. “The bank knew it wasn’t monitoring huge swaths of banking activity, and it knew that millions of dollars were being funneled through TD Bank accounts.”
The bank pled guilty to multiple felonies, including conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act and commit money laundering. These failures allowed over $670 million in illicit funds to flow through TD Bank accounts between 2014 and 2023.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has levied approximately $3 billion in fines against TD Bank, marking the largest penalty under the Bank Secrecy Act in U.S. history. So far, only two employees have been charged individually in the case.
"Some say money laundering is a crypto problem. Not true. Just ask the NY Federal Reserve, which let hundreds of millions of dollars slip through," said Stuart Alderoty, Chief Legal Officer at Ripple.
While public blockchains provide more transparency than traditional financial systems, enforcement efforts continue to disproportionately target newer technologies, according to a report on supply chain transparency.
According to data collected from Chainalysis and the United Nations, traditional finance (TradFi) accounts for over 99.97% of global money laundering activities, while cryptocurrency makes up only 0.03%. This statistic challenges the common perception that crypto is the primary vehicle for illicit financial activity.
According to a persona report, $300 billion is laundered annually through the United States, accounting for 15-30% of all global money laundering. In 2020 alone, approximately $227.8 million was laundered in the U.S. Furthermore, the most prominent money laundering case in the U.S. involved Wachovia Bank, which facilitated illicit transactions totaling $380 billion under the guise of a drug cartel.
The report highlights enforcement statistics, noting that 990 offenders were recorded out of a total 76,538 cases, illustrating gaps in the prosecution and tracking of money laundering activities.
