Former TD Bank Employee Pleads Guilty in $474 Million Money Laundering Case

A former TD Bank N.A. assistant store manager has pleaded guilty to conspiring with a massive money laundering network that moved hundreds of millions of dollars through the bank’s accounts.

Wilfredo Aquino, 47, of New York, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to launder monetary instruments and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the amount involved in the offense.

The scheme, where Aquino evaded reporting requirements and concealed the identity of the network’s leader, is detailed below: 

• From 2019 to February 2021, Aquino used his position at TD Bank to aid “David’s Network,” led by Da Ying Sze, also known as David.
• The network moved approximately $474 million in cash through TD Bank stores in New York, New Jersey, and other locations.
• Aquino’s Midtown Manhattan store processed the largest share of transactions, with Aquino personally handling approximately 1,680 official bank checks totaling $92 million.
• Nearly all checks were funded by a cash deposit exceeding $10,000, triggering legal reporting requirements. Aquino knowingly failed to list David as the “conductor” on the currency transaction report (CTR).

Aquino ignored warnings from a colleague that David’s activity “looks like money laundering.”In February 2021, Aquino facilitated three transactions totaling nearly $2 million in cash through a third-party account, again concealing David’s involvement.

Aquino accepted retail gift cards worth more than $11,000 from David in exchange for his facilitation of this scheme.

As reported recently, Singapore charged Samtrade FX executives over copy trading fraud and money laundering, and Malaysia steps up its anti-money laundering fight with warnings to investors and brokers.