Bank of America stock falls in the wake of a historic $1.2 billion fine after it failed to report financial crime

Bank of America has been fined over $1.2 billion for violating anti-money-laundering and sanction laws. On Tuesday, October 13, the U.S. Department of the Treasury handed down the fine, stating that Bank of America had failed to report over $5 billion in “suspicious activity” to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Over $1 billion of the activity was “national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks, including suspicious transactions indicative of Chinese Money Laundering Networks, fraud, and potential trade-based money laundering with a substantial nexus to the southwest border,” the Treasury stated 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 risk,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. Third largest in history The $1.2 billion fine is the Treasury Department’s third largest in its history. In 2023, it fined Binance $3.4 billion and, a year later, fined TD Bank $1.3 billion. The total figure includes a $750 million fine from the Office of the …

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