Bank of America fined $1.2 billion by Treasury Department for anti-money laundering and sanctions law violations

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The US Treasury Department on Tuesday announced it was imposing a more than $1.2 billion fine on Bank of America, accusing the bank of violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.

The bank, which is the second-largest in the US, failed to mitigate and report “priority national security risks, including Chinese Money Laundering Networks and illicit finance along the southwest border,” the Treasury Department said in its announcement.

“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,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement.

CNN reached out to Bank of America for comment.

The $1.2 billion fine is the third-largest ever imposed by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), following a record $3.4 billion fine against Binance in 2023 and a $1.3 billion penalty against TD Bank in 2024. Both of those fines were also accompanied by charges from the Justice Department, though there is no accompanying Justice Department action for the Bank of America fine.

The second Trump administration has taken actions against big banks for the practice of “debanking,” including through executive orders . Earlier this year, President Donald Trump also filed a $5 billion personal lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase, alleging that the country’s biggest bank closed his account for political reasons. However, the fine against Bank of America is the largest the Trump administration’s Treasury Department has taken against a major bank on anti-money laundering.

As part of the total fine, $750 million will go to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) as a civil penalty, making it the largest OCC penalty in history.

Bank of America failed to timely and meaningfully respond to red flags involving suspicious customers, including those with ties to narcotics trafficking, even after compliance personnel escalated concerns, Treasury said. As a result of these failures, the bank failed to report over $5 billion in suspicious transactions.

As part of the settlement, Bank of America admitted that it willfully failed to have proper safeguards in place and failed to report suspicious activity, the Treasury Department said.

This story is developing and will be updated.

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美国财政部周二宣布，将对美国银行处以超过 12 亿美元的罚款，指控该银行违反了反洗钱和制裁法。

美国财政部在公告中表示，这家美国第二大银行未能减轻和报告“优先国家安全风险，包括中国洗钱网络和西南边境的非法融资”。

“当一家如此规模的银行未能履行其反洗钱和制裁义务时，其后果远远超出其自身范围，使整个美国金融体系面临重大的非法金融风险，”财政部长斯科特·贝森特在一份声明中表示。

CNN已联系美国银行寻求置评。

这笔12亿美元的罚款是美国财政部金融犯罪执法网络（FinCEN）开出的第三大罚单，此前，FinCEN分别于2023年对币安处以创纪录的34亿美元罚款，以及于2024年对道明银行处以13亿美元罚款。这两笔罚款都伴随着司法部的指控，但美国银行的罚款并未伴随司法部的行动。

特朗普第二任期政府已对大型银行的“去银行化”行为采取行动，包括通过行政命令。今年早些时候，唐纳德·特朗普总统还对摩根大通提起50亿美元的个人诉讼，指控这家美国最大的银行出于政治原因关闭了他的账户。然而，对美国银行的罚款是特朗普政府财政部迄今为止对大型银行在反洗钱方面开出的最大罚单。

作为罚款总额的一部分，7.5亿美元将作为民事罚款支付给货币监理署（OCC），使其成为OCC历史上最大的罚款。

美国财政部表示，美国银行未能及时有效地应对涉及可疑客户的警示信号，包括那些与毒品贩运有关联的客户，即便合规人员已上报相关情况。由于这些失职，该银行漏报了超过50亿美元的可疑交易。

美国财政部表示，作为和解协议的一部分，美国银行承认其故意未能采取适当的安全措施，也未能报告可疑活动。

此事件仍在发展中，我们将持续更新报道。