TD Bank failed to disclose ‘suspicious’ crypto transactions tied to unnamed customer group 

As part of last week’s FinCEN settlement, TD Bank allegedly failed to report transactions related to crypto to relevant law enforcement agencies

article-image

eskystudio/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

As part of a larger investigation into TD Bank’s transactions and adherence to anti-money laundering laws, a FinCEN investigation found that the traditional finance bank failed to disclose “suspicious activity” regarding crypto.

A consent order alleges that the bank processed transactions for “Customer Group C,” which is an unknown entity, “including the facilitation of over $420 million to a financial institution offering cryptocurrency services in the high-risk jurisdiction of Colombia.”

There was a pattern, FinCEN said, of Customer Group C doing over $100 million in wire transfers a month, “most of which facilitated apparent third-party cryptocurrency trading and involved high-risk industries and jurisdictions, including Colombia, China and countries in the Middle East.”

Read more: House hearing on FinCEN oversight turns into crypto debate 

Customer Group C saw transactions top $1 billion in a period of time from July 2023 to April 2024, the order found. Ninety percent of that came from an unnamed crypto exchange, though this one was UK-based. Sixty percent of the outgoing transactions went to a Colombian financial institution — again unnamed. 

The group was also tied to an “international cryptocurrency exchange platform,” the order states, and received over $650 million from it. However, it’s not clear which platform FinCEN is referring to. 

“TD Bank processed these transactions on behalf of Customer Group C, due in part to a lack of clear controls applicable to customers dealing in cryptocurrency: the limited high level written policies the Bank had in place relating to virtual assets alluded to the requirements for certain additional controls and monitoring,” the order claims.

Read more from our opinion section: Crypto is becoming the same broken system it promised to fix

“However, there is no evidence any enhanced controls were ever applied to Customer Group C’s extensive transactions with virtual asset service providers.”

The bank failed to report the activity until it received “multiple law enforcement inquiries” about the unnamed entity.

Last week, TD Bank pleaded guilty to AML violations, paying a hefty fine of $3 billion in penalties. Of that sum, $1.3 billion went to FinCEN according to the order filed with the government office.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Decentralized money was a “very unpopular goal” when concepts were proposed in the ’90s, said Nick Szabo

article-image

Cove aims to deliver “risk-adjusted yield” through curated DeFi vaults

article-image

The best capital markets are open to the most people — and crypto capital markets are open to everyone

article-image

Post-conference musings on Firedancer, Kraken, Solana Mobile and Trump

article-image

Executives expect others to follow SharpLink Gaming’s lead in purchasing an asset that has surged this past month

article-image

After a weekend of tariff policy shifts, investors appear confident that trade deals are underway