TD Bribery Woes Spread to Florida as New Allegations Surface
- Banker accused of opening fraudulent accounts at local branch
- Prosecutors probe Canadian lender’s money-laundering defenses
The cases are part of a sweeping probe by officials at the Justice Department, bank regulators and Treasury Department.
Photographer: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty ImagesFresh allegations that a longtime Toronto-Dominion Bank branch worker in Florida took a series of $200 bribes to help clients move millions to Colombia by skirting anti-money-laundering defenses are adding to the lender’s mushrooming US legal problems.
Gerry Aquino Vargas, the now-former retail banker in a Hollywood, Florida, outpost of Canada’s second-largest bank, falsified documents to open dozens of accounts and provided concierge-like services to help cash flow across borders, according to American prosecutors. In another recent case, a former TD branch employee in New York admitted to bypassing the bank’s compliance measures to defraud a customer.