TD Bank is the largest bank to plead guilty to money laundering in the United States, according to the Justice Department, which accused the company of failing to monitor transactions between 2014 and 2023.
The group has committed to restructuring its compliance procedures and agreed to a five-year trial period, Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a news conference.
Several bank employees have been accused by US authorities of having facilitated or even contributed to the laundering of drug money.
Two of them have already been charged, Garland said.
“Senior managers, including the one who led the fight against money laundering, knew that the supervisory framework had serious problems, but the bank did not try to solve them,” he said.
Garland cited the example of a drug trafficking intermediary who, after going through several financial institutions, chose to work only with TD Bank, because the institution had “the most permissive regulations and procedures” regarding money laundering.
TD Bank Chairman and CEO Bharat Masrani apologized and took “full responsibility” in a statement for what has been a “difficult chapter in our bank’s history.” “We are making the investments, changes and improvements necessary to fulfill our commitments,” he assured.
Informed of the investigation and having agreed to collaborate with the Department of Justice, TD Bank had already allocated 4.2 billion Canadian dollars, about 3 billion US dollars, to pay these sanctions, according to its quarterly accounts.
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