USA’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has imposed an $8 million civil money penalty on CommunityBank of Texas, National Association (CBOT) for violations of the country’s Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
During 2015-19, CBOT willfully failed to implement an effective AML program. CBOT also willfully failed to report hundreds of suspicious transactions to FinCEN even when it became aware of customers who were subjects of criminal investigations. As a result of these violations, FinCEN did not receive timely reports of suspicious transactions of millions of dollars. Unreported transactions included those linked to tax evasion, money laundering, illegal gambling and other similar crimes.
As per an independent investigation, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) levied a civil penalty of $1 million on CBOT, which FinCEN will credit to the OCC. Overall, CBOT will pay a total of $8 million to the US Treasury as a penalty for its violations. Of this amount, $7 million will be FinCEN’s penalty and $1 million will be the OCC’s penalty.
Source: FinCEN, USA
