A former retail banker at TD Bank has admitted to accepting bribes and taking advantage of his position to help launder drug money.
The US Justice Department says that from June to November 2023, Leonardo Ayala received more than $6,000 in bribes to open fraudulent accounts, issue over 150 debit cards to shell companies and unblock debit cards that the bank had restricted because of suspicious activities.
His co-conspirators then used the bank accounts and debit cards to make more than 12,000 ATM withdrawals in Colombia, funneling approximately $5.5 million out of the US.
The 26-year-old from Homestead, Florida was sentenced on June 10 after pleading guilty to accepting bribes as a bank employee and facilitating the laundering of monetary instruments in January.
He will spend two years in prison and three years of supervised release for his crimes.
Last month, a New York-based former employee of TD Bank N.A. also pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution and making false bank entries or reports.
Cheungkin Lam, also known as Kelvin Lam, accepted at least $155,000 in bribes to identify bank accounts with large balances and steal confidential customer data. His co-conspirators used the information to defraud customer accounts, which led to millions in financial losses.
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