Record .21 Billion Bill: Regulators Say Bank of America Left Suspicious Money Unreported

Record $1.21 Billion Bill: Regulators Say Bank of America Left Suspicious Money Unreported

Three agencies moved in one afternoon

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, a coordinated enforcement package worth more than $1.21 billion against Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the United States. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network assessed a $1.2 billion penalty, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency assessed a $750 million civil money penalty — the largest in its history, and credited against the FinCEN figure rather than added to it — and the Office of Foreign Assets Control separately settled for $11.6 million. Treasury called it the third-largest penalty in department history.

Treasury's message: no bank is above the law

"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," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. He added that the actions "send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law." The Financial Times reported that Treasury described the violations as "egregious and continued."

More than $5 billion in suspicious transfers went unreported

At the center of the case is a reporting failure. Treasury said the bank did not report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions on time, including more than $1 billion involving national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks — among them Chinese money laundering networks, fraud and potential trade-based money laundering with a substantial nexus to the southwestern border. Regulators also found that the bank had effectively outsourced much of its suspicious activity detection to law enforcement and other financial institutions.

The bank admitted it willfully broke the Bank Secrecy Act

As part of the FinCEN settlement, Bank of America admitted that it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain a compliant anti-money-laundering program, failing to conduct required due diligence on certain foreign bank correspondent accounts, and failing to file suspicious activity reports. The OCC, whose comptroller Jonathan Gould noted the bank is the second-largest U.S. lender and sixth-largest globally, called its compliance program "deficient and ineffective."

475 sanctions violations in under four years

The OFAC component covers more than 475 apparent violations of U.S. sanctions programs committed between September 2021 and April 2025, touching Iran, Russia, Belarus, Burma and Somalia, as well as narcotics trafficking and global terrorism. American Banker, citing the OFAC release, reported that the bank processed more than $14.3 million in payments through 35 "blocked banks" on the U.S. sanctions blacklist during that span.

Regulators had already ordered fixes in December 2024

This is not a first offense. The OCC issued a cease-and-desist order against the bank in December 2024 over Bank Secrecy Act deficiencies, including a required validation of and lookback related to its transaction monitoring system. Independent testing by a third party in 2025 still observed critical findings in how the bank monitors transactions, and regulators found that a year after the 2024 order the bank had not taken key remediation steps.

A $1.2 billion charge lands in Wednesday's earnings

Bank of America said it has invested billions in compliance and is "far along" in remediation, with those costs already reflected in its expense base. It disclosed that third-quarter results, due before the market opens on Wednesday, October 14, will include a non-tax-deductible charge of $1.2 billion, reducing net income by approximately 17 cents per share. Shares fell roughly 1.8% to 2.5% in after-hours trading following the announcement.

A lookback and independent reviews come next

The consent order goes well beyond the payment. Bank of America must hire a third party to complete a lookback identifying and reporting to FinCEN suspicious transactions that went undetected, and must submit to independent reviews of its suspicious activity monitoring, customer due diligence, foreign correspondent account due diligence and data governance framework. Agentic Tribune and other outlets reported that the remediation program stretches through 2028. For rivals on Wall Street, the package signals that heightened anti-money-laundering and sanctions enforcement is not easing.