Bank of America hit with $1.2 billion penalty over money laundering failures

[pooya87]

I thought with the way regulators are chasing after privacy tools like and mixer, coinjoin, and it's against whatever that falls under their definition of money transmitter that the banking sector is total immune to money laundering,

They impose all these regulations, restrictions and surveillance for the average Joe so that they can have full control over everything they do and then also tax the hell out of them. Otherwise the corrupt American banking system has always been involved in all kinds of criminal activities where laundering money is nothing in comparison (drug trafficking, human trafficking, arms dealing, funding terrorism, etc.). And that's direct involvement not just failure to monitor as the article says in this particular case.

[The Cryptovator]

[but here we are America's 2nd largest bank being fined $1.2 billion dollars for allowing their bank to be used in laundering money linked to trafficking and fraud, are they going to regard some money that comes from Bank of America as tainted fiat? As they would be quick to condemn the bitcoin mixer if that was the case here, It's always a different story and handled differently when Bitcoin and a mixer are involved.

Are you talking about the $1.2B funds that are going to the government treasury? That’s penalties; that should consider clean money, whether it’s paid by fiat or crypto. Those funds seized by the government as a form of crypto from various sites should also be considered clean for the government. They have been following a rule to fine or seize.

When it comes to crypto, then probably they would be more strict since they are also strict with their second-largest bank. However, mixing funds and using funds for money laundering are almost the same. But they seem to hate Bitcoin mixers and are quite strict.

[PVequalNRT]

If we look at the 1.2 billion dollars, that's a huge loss, but considering the billions that Bank of America is making, it's like a coin and they won't feel it much in my opinion.

It just makes me wonder how such things got through to Bank of America, transactions like that that turned into money laundering? It's just amazing, is there an accomplice inside the bank that's why that's happening?

I saw this post on X and CZ crashed out for not arresting people. This is what he was acused and done with Binance, they made him feel like he is a criminal, went to prison and bank of America will pay fine and the case will be close. Not only the, the bank will continue its operations like nothing happened. This is like double standard judgement unlike how they treat crypto bros.

This is just one of the banks been investigated, if they go through other banks and their financial records, they might see the worst case scenario than this. They only do what interest them at the time they like and it's unfair.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

As they would be quick to condemn the bitcoin mixer if that was the case here, It's always a different story and handled differently when Bitcoin and a mixer are involved.

When people that are in charge of this bank have connections with top people in the government, you should actually expect that this kind of thing is very possible and not all the time that they get to expose the money laundering that passes through this bank and like the first comment already pointed out, the fine that they are asked to pay is small compared to the profit that the bank is making and if there is a better punishment, it's to close the bank for some time and ask that they pay a heavy fine but they have political backing. If some mixers is being owned by the top politicians, I don't think the government will really be so strict with it.

[Coyster]

and if there is a better punishment, it's to close the bank for some time

Lol, the Bank of America is one of the biggest financial institutions in the United States and your suggestion is to shut down the bank for sometime, you must be joking . What do you think that would achieve? Economically it would be counterproductive, to say the least. This institution plays a very crucial role in the country's financial system and hurting it severely would be hurting the country too.

This is like double standard judgement unlike how they treat crypto bros.

You do not expect the United States to treat one of its largest financial institutions in the same way it treats a crypto exchange, do you?

[Comeacross]

I saw this post on X and CZ crashed out for not arresting people. This is what he was acused and done with Binance, they made him feel like he is a criminal, went to prison and bank of America will pay fine and the case will be close. Not only the, the bank will continue its operations like nothing happened. This is like double standard judgement unlike how they treat crypto bros.

This is just one of the banks been investigated, if they go through other banks and their financial records, they might see the worst case scenario than this. They only do what interest them at the time they like and it's unfair.

W'all know about their double standard but are we really expecting banks and crypto to get the same punishment? I guess we are not. Banks are part of the system and government can't just kill them. Government see crypto as their enemy and a threat to their system because it allows people to move money without their control. They are always looking for a way to bring it down and that's why they don't hesitate to hand out strict punishment when they fall into their trap. It's unfair but it's not surprising because it's their system.

[Hamza2424]

Haha, classic double standard of the traditional banking system.

This is not so shocking to me. These banks have been a way to launder money, and if it were not about China, they might not even have made it public, or maybe they made a fuss about it because they mentioned China in it haha.

Have anyone been jailed? So far, no. But if a developer had made something that was used for illicit work without their involvement, the same authorities would have jailed them for years.

Imagine now, BofA, HSBC, and TD Bank being used to launder $2 trillion in a single year, while the Lazarus Group alone has around $5 billion haha. And they made a huge fuss about crypto, mixers, and all those tools! They basically don't hate mixers. They just hate that they don't have anyone to fine for this big money, and that's why, with more money in crypto, they are regulating their way in so they can impose fines when something goes wrong haha.

[Cryptomultiplier]

and if there is a better punishment, it's to close the bank for some time

Lol, the Bank of America is one of the biggest financial institutions in the United States and your suggestion is to shut down the bank for sometime, you must be joking . What do you think that would achieve? Economically it would be counterproductive, to say the least. This institution plays a very crucial role in the country's financial system and hurting it severely would be hurting the country too.

This is like double standard judgement unlike how they treat crypto bros.

You do not expect the United States to treat one of its largest financial institutions in the same way it treats a crypto exchange, do you?

I certainly don't, if you ask me because such would cause a bit of mess in the financial system of the country.
While this is fined as corporate rule breaking because it's a large financial system that can't be ignored just like that, for privacy tools on the otherhand that help crypto currency be invisible, it is a different ball game entirely because they help bypass surveillance system of the government.

[o48o]

I thought with the way regulators are chasing after privacy tools like and mixer, coinjoin, and it's against whatever that falls under their definition of money transmitter that the banking sector is total immune to money laundering, but here we are America's 2nd largest bank being fined $1.2 billion dollars for allowing their bank to be used in laundering money linked to trafficking and fraud, are they going to regard some money that comes from Bank of America as tainted fiat? As they would be quick to condemn the bitcoin mixer if that was the case here, It's always a different story and handled differently when Bitcoin and a mixer are involved.

Banks only follow regulations that they absolutely have to,  and anyone knowing how to game that system can hope for loopholes that banks don't monitor. And given that current administration of US has been deregulating several safeguards all over the field, corruption increases. This is probably just a tip of an iceberg.

But we sure live in a bubble if people think that regulations are focusing only to our special interest. I thought that it was common knowledge that criminals have prefer fiat money. All the working money laundering infrastructure has been build for it, and currently crypto might be even harder to launder.

[Doll2233]

It is all about having double standards between the traditional banking system and the way they are treating cryptocurrency. Regulators mostly impose a huge amount of fines when banks fail to monitor all the suspicious transactions that are in billion of dollars but still the institution itself keeps on operating. On the other hand, when Bitcoin or privacy tools are involved, then the entire service has to face legal pressure, whereas at certain times most of the users have legitimate reasons to protect their financial privacy. Money Laundering should never be ignored, criminals should be investigated and fined regardless of any Bank that they are using, Bitcoin or any payment method, but the same principle should be applied to everyone. If any bank does suspicious transactions on such high level then it should be treated the same way. The main problem is not about the money whether it is bitcoin or fiat but the main problem is about the system that is being used for illegal activities and about the rules that are being enforced fairly.

[DiMarxist]

This is a welcome development and is a move in the right direction, this is a step taken to sanitizing the banking sector. The reason is that banks like this are avenues that has always been used in siphoning money which most are times are products of illigal activities. Criminals and corrupt politician's especially from Africa has seen that most of the banks that operates both in Europe and the America help safeguard their stolen money, by not reporting suspecious transactions to the authorities.

I believe that, this will go a long way in setting an example for the banking industry, going forward as banks will be more concious of transactions that goes on in their Bank.

[Conqueror777]

A slap on the wrist!

Bank of America's net profit last year, after taxes, was $30.5B.

It's profits in the last quarter alone (Q2) were $9.1B.

This fine will not hurt them in any way, it is just "the cost of doing business" as they call it.

To put that into perspective, they make around $1.2 billion in just 2 weeks on average.

Oh and also, today, in about 5 hours, they are going to release their Q3 reports.

Bank of America to Report Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Host Investor Conference Call on October 14

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina N.C. – As previously announced, Bank of America will report its third quarter 2026 financial results on Wednesday, October 14. The results will be released at approximately 6:45 AM a.m. Eastern ET, followed by an investor conference call at 8:30 AM a.m. Eastern ET.

The news release, supplemental filing and investor presentation can be accessed at Bank of America’s Investor Relations website at https://investor.bankofamerica.com/quarterly-earnings. A Form eight K8-K containing Bank of America’s financial results will also be available at the U SU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov.

How convenient for the stock price, isn't it?

you're 100% right and it's very "convenient" that their stock price has fallen.

[angrybirdy]

I saw this post on X and CZ crashed out for not arresting people. This is what he was acused and done with Binance, they made him feel like he is a criminal, went to prison and bank of America will pay fine and the case will be close. Not only the, the bank will continue its operations like nothing happened. This is like double standard judgement unlike how they treat crypto bros.

This is just one of the banks been investigated, if they go through other banks and their financial records, they might see the worst case scenario than this. They only do what interest them at the time they like and it's unfair.

W'all know about their double standard but are we really expecting banks and crypto to get the same punishment? I guess we are not. Banks are part of the system and government can't just kill them. Government see crypto as their enemy and a threat to their system because it allows people to move money without their control. They are always looking for a way to bring it down and that's why they don't hesitate to hand out strict punishment when they fall into their trap. It's unfair but it's not surprising because it's their system.

honestly, I doubt that majority of us expects banks and crypto companies to be treated equally. banks are the integral part of the system and the government cannot afford to let them down since this would have consequences for the whole economy. Cryptocurrency companies are different in the sense that they give users more freedom to control and transfer their funds independently of banks. This might be one of the reasons why regulators are tougher on cryptocurrency companies. I am not saying that crypto companies should be treated better, but all entities should be treated equally. If a bank can do something while a cryptocurrency company receives severe punishment for doing the same thing, then, obviously, there is an issue.

[asriloni]

Forcing people to fill CTR form when they withdraw their money from the bank while the bank itself laundered billions of money. The hypocrisy around the centralized banking system is in another level. However, i'm wondering about is there at least someone goes to the jail because of this? If it's us who did it, we already jailed by police.

Beside that if they also suspected 5 billions related to the money laundry, why don't these money get seized + fine instead of only giving 1.2b as a fine to BoFA which means nothing.