Bank of America fined more than $1.2 billion for anti-money laundering and sanctions violations
Bank of America has been fined with more than $1.21 billion in penalties for anti-money laundering and sanctions violations, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The bank failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions in a timely manner, including activity linked to potential national security threats.
The penalties announced Tuesday follow investigations into the bank’s transaction monitoring, customer screening and handling of payments involving sanctioned parties. The fine is the third-largest penalty in the Treasury Department’s history.
Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, admitted to willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.
The Treasury Department said the bank prioritized revenue while limiting compliance resources, allowing suspicious activity to remain uninvestigated for extended periods. It relied on inquiries from law enforcement and referrals from other banks to identify transactions its own systems should have detected.
More than $1 billion in transactions that were not reported promptly involved indicators of Chinese money-laundering networks, fraud and potential trade-based money laundering, including activity connected to the U.S. southwest border.
“When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network imposed a $1.2 billion penalty and ordered the bank to review past transactions for suspicious activity it previously missed. The bank must also undergo independent reviews of its monitoring systems, customer checks and accounts maintained for foreign financial institutions.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency assessed a $750 million penalty, the largest in its history. It found that the bank’s systems failed to properly monitor trillions of dollars in transactions and that significant deficiencies remained despite a December 2024 order requiring improvements.
An $11.6 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) covers 475 apparent sanctions violations.
Technical errors, inadequate screening and delays in updating sanctions lists allowed millions of dollars in payments involving restricted parties under sanctions programs concerning Russia, Iran, narcotics and terrorism, among others.
“Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law,” Bessent said.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
