A Florida bank insider admitted to funneling millions to Colombia while bypassing TD Bank's anti-money laundering controls
A former TD Bank employee in Hollywood, Florida, has pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy, admitting he routed approximately $4.8 million in illicit funds to Colombia while accepting bribes, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Gerardo Aquino, 40, of Hollywood, Florida, admitted to two federal charges: conspiring to launder monetary instruments and accepting bribes as a bank employee.
Maximum penalties stand at 20 years and 30 years in prison, respectively. Sentencing before a federal judge in the District of New Jersey is scheduled for March 23, 2027.
Read more: $10M real estate fraud scheme nets California man nearly 8 years
How Aquino exploited TD Bank's systems
Between April 2022 and November 2023, Aquino used his internal access to systematically dismantle TD Bank's fraud controls.
He opened fraudulent customer accounts, distributed hundreds of debit cards to criminal associates, and overrode restrictions on accounts the bank had already frozen.
He also registered 86 separate accounts under a single commercial address in Miami, through which more than $3 million was moved offshore.
Across the full operation, an estimated $4.8 million was routed to Colombia. In exchange, Aquino collected more than $8,000 in bribes paid in cash and through peer-to-peer digital payment platforms.
Multiple federal agencies responded pointedly. "Bank insiders who facilitate money laundering and illegal activity for criminal organizations play a critical role for that organization and abuse our financial system," said A. Tysen Duva, Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ's Criminal Division.
US Attorney Robert Frazer for the District of New Jersey said Aquino had provided criminals with "a soft entry point into our banking system."
DEA Associate Chief of Operations Greg Millard said the plea demonstrated that "corrupt financial insiders are just as critical to criminal networks as those who move drugs or incite violence."
Read more: Florida broker gets 30 months for fabricating client income
What does the case mean for mortgage lenders?
The Aquino case is the latest enforcement action flowing from TD Bank's broader anti-money laundering (AML) compliance failures. The bank pleaded guilty in October 2024 to systemic AML deficiencies and agreed to pay more than $3 billion in penalties, and was later compelled to shed residential mortgage assets, with the giant mortgage lender moving to dump $9 billion in mortgages to comply with a regulator-imposed asset cap.
Industry-wide fraud exposure is trending upward. Cotality's National Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index stood at 133 at the close of Q4 2025 — equivalent to one in every 118 loan applications carrying fraud indicators, up from 131 in Q4 2024, per Cotality.
"Document-level vigilance is a critical first line of defense," Matt Seguin, senior principal of fraud solutions at Cotality in the United States, previously told Mortgage Professional America.
Anti-money laundering obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act extend broadly across the US lending ecosystem, not only to depository institutions.
The case was jointly investigated by the DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG).
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