• Senator Elizabeth Warren demands a DOJ criminal investigation into Bank of America and potentially its executives
• Regulators imposed $1.21 billion in penalties for AML and sanctions compliance failures
• Bank failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions promptly
• Treasury identified weaknesses involving Chinese money laundering networks and other illicit finance risks
• Regulators criticized ineffective monitoring and inadequate remediation of earlier deficiencies
• Bank must undertake independent compliance reviews and examine historical transactions
• Warren requests a DOJ response by November 12

Bank of America faces mounting pressure for a criminal investigation after US Senator Elizabeth Warren called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to examine whether the lender and its executives should face prosecution over widespread anti-money laundering (AML) failures.

In an October 29 letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, Warren described the $1.21 billion in regulatory penalties imposed on the bank earlier that month as a "slap on the wrist," arguing that financial sanctions alone are insufficient to deter misconduct by major financial institutions.

"I ask the Department of Justice to conduct a full criminal investigation and, if the facts warrant, prosecute the bank and its executives for their failures to follow the law," Warren wrote.

The intervention follows enforcement actions announced on October 13 by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Regulators found that Bank of America had failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions promptly, including over $1 billion involving priority illicit finance and national security risks.

These included transactions indicative of Chinese money laundering networks, potential narcotics trafficking, fraud and financial activity associated with the US southwest border.

Bank of America admitted to willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, including failures to maintain an effective AML program, conduct appropriate due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts and file suspicious activity reports.

The enforcement package included a $1.2 billion FinCEN assessment, a $750 million OCC penalty credited against that assessment, and an $11.6 million OFAC sanctions settlement.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the violations demonstrated the broader consequences of inadequate financial crime controls.

"When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks," Bessent said.

Regulators also criticized Bank of America's reliance on law enforcement inquiries and referrals from other institutions rather than effective internal transaction monitoring systems.

According to Treasury findings, the bank prioritized revenue while minimizing the resources required for compliance, allowing suspicious activity to remain uninvestigated for extended periods.

The latest violations follow a 2024 OCC cease-and-desist order addressing deficiencies in the bank's AML controls, with regulators concluding that insufficient progress had been made in correcting certain weaknesses.

Warren argued that the repeated shortcomings demonstrate why civil enforcement alone cannot guarantee accountability.

"Civil fines have become the cost of doing business on Wall Street," she wrote.

Bank of America has maintained that it has invested substantially in improving its compliance systems and made significant progress addressing identified deficiencies.

However, the latest consent order requires independent reviews of transaction monitoring, customer due diligence, correspondent banking controls and data governance.

The bank must also examine historical transactions to identify previously undetected suspicious activity.

Warren has requested that the DOJ clarify by November 12 whether it has investigated, or intends to investigate, the bank's conduct and whether it will coordinate with FinCEN to monitor compliance.

The demand intensifies scrutiny of whether regulatory penalties provide sufficient deterrence against serious financial crime compliance failures at systemically important banks.