Urgent.News

What's breaking now, across thousands of outlets.

Culture

How Bank of America's $1.2B Penalty Ranks Among Biggest Fines Ever

Bank of America has been hit with a $1.2 billion penalty, making it the third-largest enforcement action in history

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has handed Bank of America a $1.2 billion penalty after regulators found the financial behemoth failed to report billions of dollars in suspicious transactions. This settlement is one of the largest financial enforcement actions in U.S. Treasury history, surpassing only penalties against cryptocurrency exchange Binance and TD Bank.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that these failures put the entire U.S. financial system at risk, highlighting the importance of financial institutions' role in preventing illicit finance. The investigation revealed Bank of America's involvement in illicit finance related to Chinese money-laundering networks and activities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bank had willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act, a federal law mandating safeguards against money laundering and reporting suspicious transactions.

Written by urgent.news from Newsweek's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

Read the original at newsweek.com →

More in Culture

More from Wednesday 14 October →