OCC Assesses $37,500,000 Penalty Against TD Bank, N.A. For Failures to File Suspicious Activity Reports

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) assessed a $37,500,000 penalty against TD Bank, N.A., Wilmington, Delaware (Bank) for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.  The OCC found that from April 2008 to September 2009, the Bank failed to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) on activity in accounts belonging to Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, P.A., the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida law, firm through which Scott Rothstein ran a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.  These failures by the bank resulted in violations of the OCC’s SAR regulation (12 C.F.R. § 21.11(c) and (d)), which requires banks to file SARs in 30 to 60 days, depending on the circumstances.  The failures to file SARs were significant and egregious for a number of reasons, including the number of alerts generated by these accounts and the volume and velocity of funds that flowed through them.  The Bank ultimately provided more than $600 million in restitution to investors impacted by Rothstein’s Ponzi scheme.  The $37,500,000 civil money penalty reflects a number of factors, including the scope and duration of the violations and the financial harm that resulted to the Bank.  The penalty will be paid to the U.S. Treasury.

The OCC is coordinating its action with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  FinCEN is ordering the Bank to pay a $37,500,000 penalty.  The SEC is ordering the bank to pay an additional $15,000,000 penalty and to cease and desist from violating sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933.  

Related Link

• Consent Order for a Civil Money Penalty (PDF)