Bank of America to Pay $1.21 Billion to Settle Violations of Money Laundering, Sanctions laws

By Katherine Hamilton

Bank of America will pay $1.21 billion in penalties to settle violations of anti-money laundering and sanction laws.

The Treasury Department said Tuesday the fine is the third-largest in its history and the biggest ever imposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Bank of America failed to mitigate and report priority national security risks, including transactions that were indicative of Chinese Money Laundering Networks, the Treasury said. The settlement includes a $750 million civil penalty for a "deficient and ineffective" anti-money laundering compliance program.

There is also an $11.6 million charge to settle allegations the bank violated sanctions programs on Iran, Russia, narcotics and global terrorism.

As part of the resolution, Bank of America admitted that it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act and failed to implement an anti-money laundering program that met the minimum standards of the law, Treasury said.

It also admitted that it didn't conduct due diligence for correspondent accounts for foreign financial institutions or file suspicious activity reports.

Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 13, 2026 16:56 ET (20:56 GMT)