Sen. Elizabeth Warren is urging the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Bank of America and its executives after the bank admitted willfully violating federal anti-money-laundering laws. She called the more than $1.2 billion in penalties imposed on October 13 a “slap on the wrist” and asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to decide whether criminal charges are warranted, giving the DOJ until November 12 to respond. As part of a settlement with the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the bank admitted it failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions in a timely manner, with over $1 billion tied to national-security and other high-priority risks. Regulators imposed penalties including a record $750 million fine from the OCC, but no criminal charges were filed. Warren argues civil fines have become “the cost of doing business on Wall Street,” while the bank says it has invested billions in compliance and is “far along” in fixing the problems.
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