Brian Klein Quoted by American Banker about TD Bank Money-Laundering DOJ Prosecution

Partner Brian Klein, speaking to American Banker on October 18, 2024 about TD Bank, the ninth largest in the U.S. and second largest in Canada, pleading guilty to money-laundering conspiracy and settling for $3.09 billion but avoiding criminal charges against individual executives, said “the sheer scale of a large institution often shields the individuals within it.”

The Department of Justice said the bank enabled hundreds of millions of illicit dollars tied to drug and human trafficking to pass through its system, leaving $18 trillion in customer funds unmonitored for more than six years.

“In the case of TD Bank, the penalties it is paying are large – $3 billion is a lot of money, obviously – but for a bank of that size, that should be very manageable,” Klein said. “Prosecutors push for big penalties to show they’re serious, but for a number of these massive institutions paying them is just part of doing business.”

Klein, a former federal prosecutor, said the sheer size of large banks makes it difficult to trace accountability to single person. This fragmentation of responsibility makes it harder for prosecutors to prove that a specific executive had intent to commit a crime.