TD Bank hit with record $3 billion fine over drug cartel money laundering.

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

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

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

TD Bank not only turned a blind eye to illegal 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. Over $670 million in drug money, including proceeds tied to narcotics trafficking in Colombia, flowed through TD Bank accounts, all while the bank failed to enforce anti-money laundering measures. The Justice Department's historic $3 billion penalty and criminal charges reflect the severity of these systemic failures, marking TD Bank's actions as some of the most egregious in U.S. financial history.

Today, TD Bank became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act Program failures and the first bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering." – Source