Bank of America fined $1.2 billion over laundering and sanctions failures
The Treasury Department announced penalties exceeding $1.2 billion after failures involving billions in suspicious transactions, placing the action among the largest fines in its history.
By Hushread Stories, written with AI from 9 outlets · First published 13 Oct 2026
In brief
- The US Treasury Department announced more than $1.2 billion in penalties against Bank of America on Tuesday.
- The action concerns failures in money laundering safeguards and alleged violations of US sanctions laws.
- The bank failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions and address longstanding control weaknesses.
- The suspicious transactions were linked to suspected illicit finance from China and the southern US border.
- The announced fines amount to the third largest penalty total in the Treasury Department's history.
Timeline · 4 moments
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network identified in penalty action
The Hill ↗Treasury announces penalties exceeding $1.2 billion against bank
cnn.com ↗Regulators find longstanding weaknesses left unaddressed by bank
Times now ↗Report identifies billions in unflagged suspicious cross-border transactions
Financial Times ↗How it started
The case centres on Bank of America's handling of suspicious financial activity. According to the Financial Times, the bank failed to flag $5 billion in transactions linked to suspected illicit finance from China and the southern US border.
Times now reported that regulators found the bank had failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions and had not addressed longstanding weaknesses in its controls. Those findings concern failures to identify and report suspicious activity, not a determination that every transaction involved proven criminal conduct.
How it unfolded
On October 13, 2026, the Treasury Department announced more than $1.2 billion in penalties against Bank of America, according to cnn.com. The department accused the bank of violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.
The sanctions allegations were also central to the account from NBC News, which reported that the bank had been ordered to pay $1.2 billion. Yahoo Finance described widespread failures in the bank's safeguards against money laundering and other illicit financial activity.
The scale of the action became clearer in reporting from ABC Top Stories: the fines amount to the third-largest total in Treasury Department history. The supplied coverage does not give dates for the underlying transactions or establish a longer enforcement chronology.
Where it stands
The penalties have been announced, rather than merely proposed in the supplied reporting. The Hill reported that the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network was involved in imposing the fines.
Several reports describe the total as more than $1.2 billion, while others use the rounded figure of $1.2 billion. The supplied coverage does not give an exact total, a payment timetable, the bank's response or details of any required corrective measures.
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