(Bloomberg) -- Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the Department of Justice to explain why it didn’t charge high-ranking executives at Toronto-Dominion Bank over the lender’s failure to prevent money laundering.
Warren also pressed the Justice Department over why it didn’t charge Toronto-Dominion with money laundering, rather than conspiracy to launder money — to which the bank pleaded guilty this month.
A guilty plea to money-laundering charges would have triggered the bank “death penalty” provision by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which Warren said would have required the regulator to serve Toronto-Dominion with a notice of intent to terminate the bank’s charter and hold a hearing over a potential revocation.
She made the claims in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco dated Wednesday and distributed Thursday.
“These charging decisions represent absurd legal gymnastics by DOJ that ultimately have allowed the bank and its top executives to avoid full responsibility for their actions,” Warren said. “This is not an acceptable outcome.”
A representative for Toronto-Dominion declined to comment Thursday. Representatives for the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Toronto-Dominion will pay almost $3.1 billion in fines and other penalties and face a cap on its US retail-banking assets after admitting to a role in three money-laundering schemes.
TD Bank’s anti-money-laundering program failed on many levels to detect suspicious activities and report them to financial authorities, according to prosecutors.
--With assistance from Chris Strohm.
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