Warren calls for assessment of Bank of America prosecution after fines exceeding $1.21 billion

Key Facts

Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on the U.S. Justice Department to assess whether criminal prosecution of Bank of America is warranted after the Treasury Department announced on October 13, 2026, penalties exceeding $1.21 billion over violations of anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws. Warren asked the department to respond by November 12 on whether it had examined the bank’s conduct or intended to do so. The source did not report that the department had opened an investigation, and Warren’s request does not mean criminal proceedings have begun. The measures include a $1.2 billion penalty imposed by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which includes the $750 million penalty from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. A separate $11.6 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control brings the Treasury’s total measures to more than $1.21 billion.

The bank admitted to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network that it had willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act and delayed reporting suspicious transactions exceeding $5 billion. The Treasury said more than $1 billion of that activity was linked to national security risks and priority illicit finance risks. The indicators included, according to the department, transactions pointing to Chinese money-laundering networks, fraud and possible trade-based money laundering. It added that the activity had significant ties to the U.S. southern border. These details put the scale of the disclosed failures at the center of the regulatory actions announced by the department.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the bank’s system had not adequately monitored transactions involving billions of dollars and that the shortcomings had led to a large number of late suspicious activity reports. The bank was still subject to a cease-and-desist order issued in December 2024 when the new penalties were announced. The office said that, more than a year after the order, the bank remained unable to escalate potentially suspicious activity to investigators. It imposed a $750 million civil penalty in coordination with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, payable to the U.S. Treasury. The office also required the bank to take corrective measures to address the shortcomings.

The measures included a separate sanctions track: the Treasury announced a settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control over 475 apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs. The transactions involved programs targeting Russia, Belarus, Iran, Burma and Somalia, as well as counter-narcotics and global terrorism programs. The settlement was $11.6 million, separate from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s $1.2 billion penalty. The announced government measures therefore combined violations involving suspicious transaction reporting with violations of sanctions programs. The department said the bank would conduct a retrospective review to identify suspicious transactions that had gone undetected.

The bank’s third-quarter results, announced on October 14, showed net income of $6.9 billion and diluted earnings per share of $0.91, compared with $8.3 billion and $1.04 per share in the same quarter a year earlier. The bank said the results included a $1.2 billion regulatory settlement expense, or $0.17 per share. Excluding that expense, adjusted net income was $8.1 billion and adjusted earnings per share were $1.08, according to the bank’s filing. The stock fell more than 8% on October 14 after the results were announced, reaching its lowest level since May, Reuters reported. Reuters quoted Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick as saying weakness in capital markets doubled the impact of the earnings miss.

Borthwick said the bank had worked with regulators to reach the settlements and added thousands of employees to strengthen its anti-money-laundering efforts. He described the expense as one that would not constrain the bank’s activities, Reuters reported. In the latest available closing data, the bank’s stock stood at $51.14 on October 29, compared with $50.85 on October 28. The closing data do not link the stock’s movement to the regulatory actions or the civil lawsuit. The review and corrective measures required by regulators remain part of the path facing the bank after the penalties were announced.

Alongside the government actions, the New England Teamsters Pension Fund filed a securities class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on October 16, 2026. The lawsuit names the bank, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan and Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick, and says it was brought on behalf of specified securities holders. It is a separate civil lawsuit from the fines and regulatory settlements announced by the Treasury. The allegations in the complaint have not been adjudicated by the court. Warren asked the Justice Department to respond by November 12 on whether it had examined the bank’s conduct or intended to do so.