Ex-banker pleads guilty in money laundering case

Another former TD Bank employee in the U.S. is pleading guilty for his role in facilitating money laundering.

A former bank employee in New Jersey, Oscar Marcel Nunez-Flores, pled guilty to a two-count information charging him with conspiring to launder monetary instruments and receiving bribes. The charges were brought in connection with his role in enabling a money laundering network to move more than US$26 million from the U.S. to Colombia.

According to court filings, from March 2021 to October 2023, Nunez opened numerous bank accounts for shell companies and for customers that weren’t present, and issued hundreds of debit cards for those accounts which were used to make more than 120,000 ATM withdrawals in Colombia. He also registered shell companies in New Jersey and opened accounts in their names in exchange for a fee.

“The defendant afforded his co-conspirators unfettered access to TD Bank, while lining his own pockets in the process,” said Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal division, in a release. 

“Our financial professionals are vital gatekeepers against money laundering and other crimes in the financial services industry. The criminal division will hold banking professionals who abuse their positions to account to ensure the protection of our financial system,” he added.

Nunez is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27.

Earlier this month, in a separate case, a former bank manager at TD in New York also pled guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 12.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.