TD Bank faces a record $3 billion fine for money laundering by drug cartels.

TD Bank Group is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The bank was formed on February 1, 1955 from the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank, which were founded in 1855 and 1869 respectively. It is one of Canada’s two Big Five banks founded in Toronto, the other being the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. – Wikipedia

TD Bank will pay $3 billion as part of an agreement to settle allegations that it failed to properly monitor money laundering by drug cartels, regulators announced Thursday.

The fine includes a $1.3 billion fine to be paid to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a record fine for a bank. TD also plans to pay $1.8 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice and plead guilty to resolve the U.S. government’s investigation that the bank violated the Bank Secrecy Act and committed money laundering has allowed. – Source

TD Bank not only turned a blind eye to illicit financial activity, but actively enabled it, creating an environment where criminals could launder millions of dollars with ease. Shockingly, several bank employees themselves became complicit in these crimes, accepting bribes and facilitating illegal transactions. More than $670 million in drug money, including proceeds from drug trafficking in Colombia, flowed through TD Bank’s accounts as the bank failed to enforce anti-money laundering measures. The Justice Department’s historic $3 billion in fines and criminal charges reflect the severity of these systemic failures, making TD Bank’s actions among the most egregious in U.S. financial history.

Today, TD Bank has become the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to the failure of the Bank Secrecy Act Program and the first bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Source