The Department of Justice announced on the 16th that two former employees of TD Bank in New York were sentenced to 46 months and 24 months of federal imprisonment for aiding money laundering and financial fraud. One former assistant branch manager was involved in assisting a transnational money laundering group transfer approximately $474 million through TD Bank accounts, while another former bank employee accepted bribes, disclosed customer information, and aided a fraud group in stealing deposits.
According to court documents, Wilfredo Aquino, a 47-year-old Manhattan resident, served as an assistant branch manager at TD Bank from 2019 to February 2021, and used his position to assist a money laundering network in processing hundreds of millions of dollars in cash transactions. Prosecutors stated that the head of the money laundering group, Da Ying Sze (phonetically translated as David), and his accomplices deposited large amounts of cash at TD Bank branches in New York, New Jersey, and then transferred approximately $474 million through bank accounts.
During this period, Aquino assisted in processing around 1680 bank drafts, totaling over $92 million, most of which came from single cash deposits exceeding $10,000. Despite the bank’s obligation to report such transactions through Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs), Aquino was aware that “Da Ying” was the actual operator of the transactions but failed to report it according to the law. Even after the bank closed some suspicious accounts and colleagues warned him that the transactions “looked like money laundering,” he continued to facilitate the transactions.
In February 2021, Aquino assisted in completing three cash transactions totaling nearly $2 million and received gift cards worth over $11,000 from Da Ying as a reward. In January of this year, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced to 46 months in prison on the 16th.
Da Ying had already pleaded guilty in 2022 to planning a money laundering conspiracy involving $653 million, operating an illegal money transfer business, and bribing bank employees.
The other individual sentenced is Eddie Mang Wah Low, a 31-year-old resident of Flushing and former TD Bank employee. Prosecutors revealed that he accepted at least $26,700 in bribes in 2021, illegally obtained confidential customer information, and provided it to external accomplices to take over customer accounts and steal funds, resulting in approximately $484,600 in losses.
Furthermore, in May 2022, after transitioning to another financial institution, Low continued to accept bribes, falsify bank records, and assist in opening accounts in the name of shell companies for the criminal group to commit fraud, involving an amount exceeding $47,000. In February of this year, he admitted to conspiring to commit wire fraud affecting financial institutions and creating false bank records, and was sentenced to 24 months in prison on the 15th (Wednesday).