Bank of America pays historic $1.2 billion over money laundering failures

The U.S. Treasury Department ordered Bank of America on Tuesday to pay a record $1.2 billion penalty for willfully violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. The bank failed to monitor trillions in transactions and did not report more than $5 billion in suspicious activity, including links to Chinese money-laundering networks, narcotics trafficking, and fraud. This enforcement action consists of a $750 million fine from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—the largest ever levied by that regulator—and an additional amount from FinCEN, bringing total penalties slightly over $1.2 billion when including a separate sanctions settlement. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in his remarks that these actions demonstrate financial institutions are not above the law.