Ex-Florida TD Bank Employee Charged In Cartel Money Laundering Scheme

A former TD Bank employee in Florida has been arrested for his alleged role in a massive money-laundering scheme linked to drug cartels.

The bank was fined $3 billion earlier this year for systemic compliance failures. I Photo: TD Enterprise Real Estate Linkedin 

This comes after the bank was fined $3 billion earlier this year for systemic compliance failures, Ramishah Maruf reported for CNN.

Leonardo Ayala, 24, was charged with one count of money laundering conspiracy by the US attorney's office in the District of New Jersey.

The arrest follows revelations of widespread deficiencies in TD Bank’s transaction monitoring between January 2018 and April 2024, which allowed over $670 million to flow through cartel-linked accounts.

Ayala, who worked at a TD Bank branch in Doral, Florida, allegedly began facilitating laundering operations in mid-2023.

He reportedly issued debit cards for fake shell accounts set up by another employee in New Jersey. The accounts were used to launder narcotics proceeds, including over $500,000 withdrawn from ATMs in Colombia and another $800,000 moved between companies, CNN reported.

Ayala allegedly accepted bribes to issue dozens of debit cards tied to these fraudulent accounts.