Capital One Financial has been fined $ 290 million after admitting to the U.S. Treasury Department that it willfully violated anti-money laundering requirements between 2008 and 2014.
The issues, involving a unit that operated checkout shops and has since shut down, were first revealed years ago. But documents released Friday by Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network contain new details, including Capital One’s admission that it did not file suspicious activity reports, even when it was aware of criminal charges against specific clients.
“The failures described in this enforcement action are outrageous,” Fincen director Kenneth Blanco said in a press release. “Capital One has intentionally ignored its obligations under the law in a high-risk business unit.”
Bloomberg
A Capital One spokesperson said in an email that it was in McLean, Va. established company gladly resolved the matter, calling it the last remaining government investigation into a now-defunct company, and said the company was completely committed to paying the nine. digit fine.
“Capital One takes its anti-money laundering obligations very seriously,” said the company spokesman. “The bank has invested heavily in improving its AML program under new AML leadership in recent years, and has worked closely with regulators and law enforcement officials to ensure that our compliance processes and protocols are robust and thorough.”
Capital One acquired the check collecting group in 2006 with the purchase of New York-based North Fork Bank. According to a document that Fincen released publicly on Friday, there were dozens of check-bankers in the New York and New Jersey areas among the unit’s customers. Services that included the unit, check processing and cash transports of armored cars.
Capital One acknowledged errors related to currency transaction reports, which banks are required to file with the government when customers make cash transactions in excess of $ 10,000. The $ 422 billion asset admitted it had failed to file the reports on approximately 50,000 transactions for a total of more than $ 16 billion.
Capital One also admitted it had not filed any suspicious activity reports in connection with Domenick Pucillo, who owned numerous checks in the New York area. Pucillo was described by Fincen on Friday as a convicted member of Genoa’s organized crime family and the fourth largest client of Capital One’s business unit serving checks.
The bank heard about possible criminal charges against Pucillo in New Jersey in 2013. Nonetheless, Capital One subsequently allowed Pucillo’s entities to complete more than 20,000 transactions worth approximately $ 160 million through 23 deposits, Fincen said.
Capital One shut down the commercial banking unit that exchanged checks for businesses in 2014. Five years later, Pucillo pleaded guilty to conspiracy for money laundering in connection with clearing up loans and illegal gambling proceeds flowing through his Capital One accounts, Fincen said.
“Capital One’s blatant failures allowed known criminals to use and abuse our country’s financial system uncontrollably, encouraging criminal activity and allowing it to continue and thrive at the expense of victims and other citizens,” said Blanco. “Failures of this kind by financial institutions, regardless of their size and perceived influence, will not be tolerated.”
Fincen said Capital One has taken significant steps to cooperate with its investigation and to resolve the issues it has taken into account in determining the amount of the fine imposed. The civil fine totaled $ 390 million, but Capital One was credited $ 100 million for a fine it paid to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2018.
The OCC imposed an enforcement action on Capital One in 2015 in connection with anti-money laundering compliance within the same business unit. That consent warrant was closed in 2019.