What’s in vogue these days in the financial banking industry? Well, it seems like it’s all about making money from money-launderers while breaking the law by not reporting transactions with such upstanding people (as usual, bold emphasis mine):
The U.S. Treasury announced more than $1.21 billion in penalties against Bank of America, the nation’s second-largest bank, on Oct. 13 for violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.
The Treasury said the penalty, the third-largest in its history, stemmed from the bank's failure to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions, including more than $1 billion involving national security and other priority illicit-finance risks. The department alleged that some transactions were "indicative of Chinese Money Laundering Networks, fraud, and potential trade-based money laundering with a substantial nexus to the southwest border."
It added that Bank of America "prioritized its revenues" when creating compliance programs, relying on outside inquiries, such as from law enforcement and other financial institutions, to identify suspicious activity.
…
"When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the announcement. "Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law."
Bank of America admitted that it willfully violated anti-money laundering laws as part of its resolution with Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The consent order requires the bank to hire an independent third party to investigate and report any previously undetected suspicious activity.
Not wanting to be left out, American Express joined the party:
Seems bad, right? Thankfully, our government is on top of things. Bank of America was fined $1.2 billion and AMEX was fined $350 million. To repeat what Secretary of the Treasury Bessent said, "Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law."
Is that truly the case? After all, $1.2 billion and $350 million is a lot of money.
Or is it?
Likewise, in 2025, AMEX reported gross revenue of approximately $72 billion and net profit of approximately $10 billion.
Now, let’s revisit those hefty fines:
For Bank of America, $1.2 billion is about 0.6% of its 2025 revenue and about 4% of its 2025 net profit. From an accounting perspective, those percentages are relatively “immaterial”, meaning they don’t really matter in the scheme of the company’s financials. And that’s just for one year. They can then just keep on cranking out revenue and profit in future years.
For American Express, $350 million is about 0.5% of its 2025 revenue and about 3.5% of its 2025 net profit. Again, from an accounting perspective, those percentages are relatively “immaterial”, meaning they don’t really matter in the scheme of the company’s financials. And that’s just for one year. They can then just keep on cranking out revenue and profit in future years.
Additionally, there is no indication that anyone in either company was personally impacted by Treasury’s actions. Seemingly, no one was indicted for these illegal actions, and no one lost their jobs.
I would agree with Secretary Bessent that Treasury’s actions send a “clear message”. It’s just not the message that he wants us to buy into. The true message is more like, “We will slap your corporate entity on the wrist with some big sounding but financially irrelevant fines and there won’t be any personal consequences, so just view this as a ‘cost of doing business’ and good luck in the future.”
It’s why people like Jamie Dimon still have their jobs even after enabling the world’s biggest pedophile ring and Jeffrey Epstein:
This is the institutional elite (in the form of Scott Bessent and the Treasury Department) refusing to truly hold the institutional elite (in the form of the Epstein Class) responsible for their actions.
Nothing will change until the actual people making the decisions behind these illegal actions face meaningful and painful personal consequences (yes, personal fines but also criminal indictments and actual jail time if found guilty).
This needs to be a priority if/when Democrats gain control of Congress and the Presidency.
Voters may be ignorant of issues and uninformed, but they know class warfare when they see it. And they are pissed off that they are getting screwed and their lives are an ongoing struggle while CEOs of companies like Bank of America, American Express and JP Morgan rake in millions in compensation while skating away from any responsibility or consequences.
Historically, this does not end well.
Here’s a song from one of my all-time favorite musicians:
Warren Zevon - Frank and Jesse James
