Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged the U.S. Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into Bank of America and its executives over anti-money-laundering failures. Her demand follows the bank’s agreement to pay more than $1.2 billion in civil penalties and its admission that it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act.
In a letter to the Attorney General, Warren called the penalties a mere “slap on the wrist” and said they were insufficient to deter future misconduct. The violations involved the bank’s failure to file timely reports on more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions.
More than $1 billion of those transactions were linked to national security risks and potential Chinese money-laundering networks. Warren asked the DOJ to say by November 12 whether it will pursue a criminal case.