Posted 10/24/2026
In 2014, Bank of America reached a historic $16.65 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for its role in the 2008 mortgage crisis. The DOJ accused the bank (and its acquired subsidiaries, Countrywide and Merrill Lynch) of defrauding investors by falsely certifying the quality of toxic, subprime mortgage-backed securities. These actions contributed to the near financial collapse of the United States' economic system. The settlement was historic, but its size alone does not establish whether it outweighed the financial benefits associated with the underlying conduct or adequately deterred future violations.
As a matter of fact, Bank of America repeated questionable conduct. Back in 2023, Bank of America was ordered to pay a total of $250 million—comprising over $100 million in customer restitution and $150 million in penalties ($90 million to the CFPB and $60 million to the OCC)—for multiple illegal practices that harmed hundreds of thousands of consumers. According to investigations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the bank repeatedly double-charged customers $35 non-sufficient fund fees on single resubmitted transactions, illegally withheld promised cash and point credit card signup bonuses, and fraudulently opened credit card accounts without customer consent or knowledge to meet sales incentive goals.
Most recently, in October 2026, U.S. federal regulators fined Bank of America a sum of more than $1.21 billion for failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering (AML) controls and violating sanctions laws, marking the third-largest penalty in Treasury history. Bank of America has been continually penalized, not criminalized, for its behavior. Bank of America's net worth, measured by its market capitalization, is approximately $349 billion to $435 billion, depending on live stock market fluctuations. In terms of accounting book value (total assets minus total liabilities), its net assets sit at roughly $300 billion to $303 billion, backed by about $3.49 trillion in total global assets. What the most recent fine equates to is like having $350 in your pocket, another $3,490 at home, and misplacing $1.21. The media exacerbates the fine as if it's a severe punishment, but it simply isn't for a corporation of that magnitude.
Photo courtesy of The White House from Washington, DC
Bank of America violated federal laws and faced massive civil and regulatory penalties for illegal practices. These cases are typically resolved through multi-billion dollar financial settlements rather than criminal prosecutions of individual executives. In the American legal system, corporate violations of the law are usually handled by federal regulators (like the Treasury Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) through civil enforcement actions, massive fines, and consent decrees which are probably factored in as a cost of doing business.
Secretary Scott Bessent said, in reference to the penalties, "Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law.” Quite to the contrary, we all learned about institutions that were "too big to fail" and we are becoming more aware of executives who are "too big to jail." Regulators often worry that criminal indictments against a major bank could trigger systemic panic, counterparty defaults, or bank runs, ultimately harming depositors and the broader economy — the government is afraid to prosecute, basically. The RICO Act, invented for criminal organizations, but mostly used on low-level street gangs and even aimed at Diddy, has been neatly tucked away as it may be ineffective against an entity as gargantuan as Bank of America. Proving individual criminal intent among top-level executives in vast, decentralized corporate structures is extraordinarily difficult, especially if you aren't willing to try.
**It must be noted that Bank of America is the banking institution of Surveyours (they are that big!)
