27 January 2021.
Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts. It is headquartered in McLean, Virginia. It has operations in Canada and the United Kingdom as well. It has 755 branches including 30 café style locations and 2,000 ATMs.
The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced on Friday the penalty of $390 million against Capital One Corp for receiving proceeds of organized crime and failing to enforce anti-money laundering regulations and allowing suspicious transactions. The bank admitted that it failed to file Suspicious Activity Reports in a timely manner. Banks are required to file with the government when customers conduct cash transactions over $10,000. The company failed to report roughly 50,000 transactions totalling more than $16 billion.
Between 2008 and 2014 it allowed illicit funds linked to tax evasion, fraud, and other financial crimes to enter the U.S. financial system. Notably it allowed Domenick Pucillo, a convicted associate of the Genovese organized crime family, to conduct check-cashing businesses in the New York/New Jersey area.
The bank learned about potential criminal charges against Pucillo in New Jersey, in in 2013. Yet it allowed Pucillo to conduct more than 20,000 transactions worth roughly $160 million through 23 deposit accounts, said FinCEN in a report.
A Capital One spokesperson said in an email that the bank was pleased to resolve the matter, calling it the last remaining government inquiry into a now-defunct business, and saying that the firm was fully reserved to pay the penalty. The spokesperson said that the bank has invested heavily in the enhancement of its Anti-money-laundering (AML) program and has worked closely with regulators and law enforcement officers to ensure our compliance processes and protocols are robust and thorough.
Capital One shut down its check-cashing businesses in 2014. Five years later, Pucillo pleaded guilty to laundering money in connection with loan sharking and illegal gambling proceeds that flowed through his Capital One accounts.
Source: American Banker, OCCRP.
