A former employee of Florida-based TD Bank was arrested in Colombia on charges of facilitating money laundering, New Jersey’s attorney general said Wednesday, the first such arrest since the Canadian lender paid a $3 billion fine. There is an arrest.
td bank’s US military admitted crime In October the bank was charged with money laundering conspiracy, becoming the first US bank to do so. It is also the largest bank to plead guilty to US Bank Secrecy Act program failures.
Regulators imposed heavy fines, set asset limits and, among other things, called for the installation of government-ordered monitors for failures in TD’s compliance system that enabled the laundering of up to $670 million from narcotics sales.
Dozens of people have been arrested or charged in the US in recent years in connection with money laundering linked to TD.
In the latest case, Leonardo Ayala, 24, who worked at a TD Bank outlet in Doral, Florida between February and November 2023, was charged with aiding a money laundering network by issuing dozens of debit cards for accounts opened in the names of shell companies. is charged with. In exchange for bribes, court documents show.
According to a statement from the New Jersey Attorney General, those accounts were used to launder drug trafficking proceeds through cash withdrawals from ATMs in Colombia.
“The investigation revealed that millions of dollars were laundered into Colombia through accounts operated by Ayala,” the statement said.
Ayala could not immediately be reached for comment.
“We identified the activity, reported it, and cooperated closely with authorities in their investigation. We will continue to actively support their efforts,” the TD spokesperson said.
In October, U.S. officials said TD Bank employees received at least $57,000 in gift cards in 2020 and 2021 from a criminal who moved more than $400 million in transactions through the bank.
In one case, a money laundering network deposited funds in the U.S. and immediately withdrew them using ATMs in Colombia, ultimately defrauding millions, the Justice Department said in October.
The Justice Department said five TD employees conspired with the network.
The money laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine or twice the amount involved in the crime, whichever is greater.
