Askume, Sept 27 – TD Bank (TD.TO) is expected to plead guilty as its U.S. retail bank tries but fails to crack down on money laundering and fentanyl sales linked to Chinese criminal groups, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Canada’s second-largest bank is in talks with US federal prosecutors and its US retail unit is expected to enter a plea within two weeks, the report said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
TD Bank and the US Justice Department did not immediately respond to Askume requests for comment. The bank said in May that it had made extensive changes to its US and global anti-money laundering programs .
The bank said at the time that it had invested more than C$500 million ($400 million) in program improvements and platform enhancements as its anti-money laundering compliance programs came under regulatory scrutiny in Canada and the United States.
According to the Wall Street Journal, US authorities claim that TD Bank was negligent in creating and maintaining systems to prevent money laundering.
The parent company has set aside more than $3 billion to cover the costs of resolving the US government investigation, the paper said.
The Justice Department launched an investigation into TD Bank and other banks in New York and New Jersey after its agents uncovered an operation that laundered hundreds of millions of dollars by laundering illegal drug proceeds through the bank and other banks, the Wall Street Journal reported in May.
(1 USD = 1.3512 Canadian Dollars)
