A former New York-based employee of

Toronto-Dominion Bank

has pleaded guilty to supporting a

money-laundering

network’s movement of hundreds of millions of dollars through the bank.

Wilfredo Aquino processed approximately 1,680 bank cheques totalling more than US$92 million for the money-laundering network, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement on Tuesday. Nearly all of these bank cheques were worth more than US$10,000 each, which triggered TD Bank’s legal requirement to file a currency transaction report.

Led by an individual named Da Ying Sze, also known as David, the network used various other TD branches to launder money, but it laundered the most money through Aquino’s Midtown Manhattan branch.

“Nobody processed more transactions for David’s network at the Midtown Manhattan store than Aquino,” the statement said.

In February 2022, Sze pleaded guilty to co-ordinating a US$653-million money-laundering conspiracy, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and bribing bank employees in connection with financial transactions, according to the DoJ.

U.S. agencies fined Canada’s second-largest bank $3.1 billion in 2024 and restricted its growth down south for failing to prevent money-laundering activities.

Aquino knew that other TD branches had closed accounts linked to Sze due to suspicious activity, the DoJ said. A colleague even warned him that the activity looked like money laundering. Still, he never reported these transactions.

“Aquino helped criminals launder money from inside TD Bank,” Philip Lamparello, senior counsel for the Criminal and Special Prosecutions Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, said. “Bank employees are the first line of defence against money laundering, fraud and other financial crimes. When bank employees ignore their obligations … we will not hesitate to hold them accountable.”

In return, Aquino accepted “numerous retail gift cards” worth more than US$11,000 in total, the DoJ said.

He pleaded guilty to “conspiring to launder monetary instruments” and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of US$500,000 or twice the amount involved in the offence, whichever is greater.

Aquino isn’t the first former TD employee to be tried. A former Florida-based employee was arrested and charged for assisting the money-laundering network by issuing it dozens of debit cards in exchange for bribes, the DoJ said in December 2024.

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