(Reuters) – A former TD Bank employee used forged documents to open dozens of accounts and offered a concierge-like service to help people move money across borders, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
Jerry Aquino Vargas, a former retail banker at a TD Bank branch in Hollywood, Florida, accepted multiple $200 bribes to help clients evade anti-money laundering measures and transfer millions of dollars to Colombia, the report said, citing U.S. prosecutors.
“Upon becoming aware of these matters, we took action against these employees and have worked collaboratively with the Department of Justice to support their efforts to bring these perpetrators to justice,” the bank said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
“More broadly, when our programs are not effective, we hold leaders accountable and take steps to drive reforms and meet our obligations,” a bank spokesman added.
The bank is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for its involvement in a $653 million drug money laundering scheme in New York and New Jersey that involves illegal drug sales and employees accepting bribes to facilitate the laundering of drug money.
The bank said last year that it was cooperating with the Department of Justice in an investigation into its anti-money laundering compliance program.
(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
