A former TD Bank employee pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder monetary instruments after prosecutors said he used his position to help a money-laundering network move hundreds of millions of dollars through the institution. 

According to the indictment, Wilfredo Aquino helped a group led by Da Ying Sze, also known as David, move approximately $474 million through TD Bank accounts by depositing cash at branches in New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere beginning in 2019 through February 2021. Aquino was then working as a TD Bank assistant store manager.

The DOJ said the network laundered the most money through Aquino’s Midtown Manhattan branch and that no one there processed more transactions for the group than Aquino. All told, Aquino processed some 1,680 official bank checks totaling roughly $92 million for the network, with most funded by cash deposits over $10,000 that triggered currency transaction reporting requirements. 

Prosecutors said Aquino failed to identify David as the “conductor” on required reports, even after TD Bank closed other accounts tied to David and a colleague warned the activity “looks like money laundering.”

Aquino also facilitated three transactions totaling nearly $2 million in cash in February 2021 through a third-party account and again did not report David’s role, helping conceal the network leader’s identity. Aquino accepted more than $11,000 in retail gift cards in exchange for his help, the department said.

Read more at DOJ