Bank of America has been hit with more than $1.21 billion in federal penalties for anti-money laundering and sanctions violations. The Treasury Department's enforcement action, announced Tuesday, represents the third-largest penalty in the agency's history.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) assessed a $1.2 billion penalty after finding that Bank of America failed to adequately identify, investigate, and report suspicious financial activity. More than $5 billion in questionable transactions went unreported or were reported late. Of that sum, more than $1 billion involved priority national security risks, including Chinese money-laundering networks and illicit financial activity along the southwestern U.S. border.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) separately imposed a record $750 million penalty, which is credited toward FinCEN's assessment. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) secured an additional $11.6 million settlement involving 475 apparent sanctions violations tied to programs targeting Iran, Russia, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism.
Bank of America admitted to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act. Regulators found that the bank prioritized revenue while allowing compliance deficiencies to persist, and that trillions of dollars in transactions had not been adequately monitored. These problems continued despite a December 2024 cease-and-desist order requiring corrective action.
The settlement requires an independent review of previously overlooked transactions and additional improvements to the bank's compliance controls. Bank of America expects to absorb a $1.2 billion non-tax-deductible charge against third-quarter earnings, equivalent to approximately 17 cents per share.
Notably, no bank executives faced criminal charges in connection with the enforcement action. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao commented on this distinction, noting the contrast with his own experience serving four months in federal prison following a compliance violation.
