More than $5 billion in suspicious transactions went unreported on time at Bank of America (BAC), with over $1 billion tied to national security concerns, federal regulators have determined.
Among the most alarming findings, some of that activity pointed to possible China-linked money laundering networks and financial flows connected to the U.S. southwest border.
Those revelations are now fueling a push by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to move far beyond the civil penalties already imposed on the bank.
Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, has written to Attorney General Todd Blanche urging the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Bank of America and its senior executives.
The Massachusetts Democrat set a November 12 deadline for the DOJ to confirm whether it has already probed the conduct or intends to pursue charges, putting the department on notice.
Her letter came after Treasury Department enforcement actions totaling more than $1.21 billion were announced against the bank on October 13 for violations of anti-money laundering and federal sanctions laws.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network levied a $1.2 billion penalty, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a $750 million fine that stands as the largest civil money penalty in that agency’s history.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control separately announced an $11.6 million settlement over apparent sanctions violations, adding another layer to one of the most significant enforcement actions against a major U.S. bank in recent memory.
Warren dismissed the combined penalties as insufficient, arguing that the bank’s admitted willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act demand a sterner response from federal law enforcement.
“Civil fines have become the cost of doing business on Wall Street,” she wrote, contending that existing federal law already permits criminal penalties when such violations are deemed willful.
She was equally direct about the consequences of the bank’s failures, writing that “the documented violations by Bank of America allowed illicit actors to move billions through the U.S. financial system.”
Beyond a criminal referral, Warren pressed for an asset cap on the bank, along with restrictions on shareholder dividends and stock buybacks, and demanded that CEO Brian Moynihan appear before Congress to answer questions.
A Bank of America spokesperson said the company “worked with regulators” to resolve the penalties after the OCC’s 2024 order and FinCEN’s subsequent review concluded.
The spokesperson added that the bank would press forward with its compliance commitments, stating: “We will continue to support federal and local law enforcement across thousands of investigations and report hundreds of thousands of suspicious activity reports each year.”
Neither Bank of America nor the Justice Department offered additional responses to requests for comment, leaving Warren’s criminal referral demand unanswered for now.
