Agencies
TD Bank has agreed to pay around $3 billion in a historic settlement with U.S. authorities who said Thursday that the financial institution’s weak oversight and practices enabled extensive money laundering to occur over several years.
Canada-based TD Bank pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, the largest bank in U.S. history to do so, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
"TD Bank created an environment that allowed financial crime to flourish,” Garland said. "By making its services convenient for criminals, it became one.”
High-level executives were alerted to serious problems with the bank’s anti-money laundering program, but failed to correct them as employees openly joked about how easy it seemed to be for criminals to launder money there, Garland said.
The bank is the 10th largest in the United States, and its CEO said the company takes full responsibility and has been cooperating with the investigation.