Bank of America hit with record $1.21 billion penalty for weak anti-money laundering controls

The US Treasury has fined Bank of America $1.21 billion for serious shortcomings in tracking suspicious transactions. The bank’s deficient monitoring system let trillions of dollars flow unchecked for years, resulting in late and incomplete reports on potential money laundering tied to China and the southwest border.

Of the total, $750 million goes to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — the largest penalty it has ever imposed. Another $11.6 million was settled with OFAC over sanctions breaches involving Iran, Russia and drug trafficking. Officials noted that compliance staff lacked the expertise to run an effective program and that management had known about the gaps but failed to act.

The bank acknowledged breaching the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act. While it has already spent billions upgrading systems and hired thousands of compliance staff, regulators say more fixes are still needed.

Based on information from cryptonews.net