The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has accused banking leader TD Bank of failing to report a suspicious crypto transaction from a customer group. In its latest press release, FinCEN said the banking giant allowed an anonymous customer group that deals with international crypto activities to carry out a highly suspicious transaction activity without making any report.
Don’t forget that the bank was fined over $3 billion over gross violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. This penalty, according to reports, is the biggest-ever fine imposed under the aforementioned act. Per FinCEN reports, TD Bank allegedly facilitated crypto funds, worth millions of dollars for the group – Customer Group C.
The “Customer Group C” reportedly operates within the sales finance and real estate sector. It was claimed that the group intentionally falsified their international wire activity with TD Bank. Initially, the group insisted that its transactions wouldn’t exceed $1 million in yearly sales. However, it has now gone ahead to execute more than $1 billion in transactions through the bank. This, according to FinCEN, raises suspicion of a possible money laundering activity.
Likewise, the group initially brought in 90% of its funds from an unnamed UK-based crypto exchange. Later, it transferred 60% of the funds to Colombian financial firms offering digital asset services. Meanwhile, it failed to name Colombia as one of the regions it would transact with while getting started with TD Bank. Through the aid of those complicit transactions, Customer Group C allegedly work with “high-risk industries and firms” in China and the Middle East.
FinCEN criticizes TD Bank for not being “proactive”
FinCEN, in its report, criticized TD Bank for failing to act proactively in reporting the issue in spite of the huge volume of suspicious transactions and ‘red flags’ associated with high-risk regions and the swift movement of funds within a short timeframe. The agency says the bank never acted on the matter until it got multiple law enforcement inquiries about the customer.
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