# Bank of America Fined $1.2 Billion by Treasury Over Money Laundering Failures, Third Largest Penalty in Agency History

> Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a $1.2 billion FinCEN penalty against Bank of America for years of unreported suspicious transactions, part of more than $1.9 billion in combined fines from three federal regulators.

- Source: American Post News
- Canonical URL: https://americanpostnews.net/article/bank-of-america-fined-1-2-billion-by-treasury-over-money-laundering-failures-third-largest-penalty-in-agency-history
- Author: staff
- Section: Economy
- Published: 2026-10-14T16:49:20.411Z
- Updated: 2026-10-14T16:49:20.411Z
- Tags: Bank of America, Treasury Department, Money Laundering, Scott Bessent

---

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on October 14 that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has assessed a $1.2 billion penalty against Bank of America, the nation's second largest bank, over years of anti money laundering failures. According to Treasury, the bank failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions and did not fix long standing compliance problems, including gaps tied to Chinese money laundering networks and illicit finance along the southwest border. The penalty is the third largest in the Treasury Department's history.

The FinCEN fine was one of three separate actions against the bank announced the same day. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency assessed a $750 million civil penalty over what it called a deficient and ineffective Bank Secrecy Act and anti money laundering compliance program, the largest fine in that regulator's history. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control separately reached an $11.6 million settlement with the bank over apparent sanctions violations tied to Iran, Russia, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism financing. Combined, the three penalties total more than $1.9 billion.

Bessent framed the fines as a warning to the broader banking industry. "Today's actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law," he said in a statement announcing the penalties, adding that compliance failures of this kind expose the entire financial system to serious illicit finance risk.

The action follows a 2024 consent order the bank had already entered into over related compliance issues. It ranks behind only two larger settlements in Treasury history, a $4 billion penalty against Binance in 2023 and a $3 billion settlement with TD Bank in 2024.

---

Originally published by American Post News. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://americanpostnews.net/article/bank-of-america-fined-1-2-billion-by-treasury-over-money-laundering-failures-third-largest-penalty-in-agency-history.