A Bank of America insider is pleading guilty to boosting a global money laundering conspiracy that aided drug traffickers and other illegal businesses, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ says former Bank of America employee Rongjian Li was a member of a money laundering and drug trafficking outfit headed by Jin Hua Zhang.

According to prosecutors, Li used his position at the bank from 2021 through 2022 to help the criminal organization open several accounts.

Zhang’s organization then used the BofA accounts, some of which were registered using forged passports, to launder illicit funds.

“As part of his involvement, when the bank’s financial auditing systems flagged or froze accounts for suspicious activity, Li helped Zhang circumvent the bank’s anti-money laundering protocols and move illicit funds elsewhere.

In addition, Li was observed sitting next to Zhang at a dinner in New York, where Zhang discussed the different fee percentages he charged various criminal groups for drug trafficking and scams.”

Zhang’s organization is believed to have laundered millions of dollars in a span of months, according to the DOJ.

“The investigation revealed that, for a fee, Zhang laundered bulk cash for drug dealers and laundered profits from other illegal businesses. In less than a year, Zhang and his organization laundered at least $25 million worth of drug proceeds and funds from other illegal businesses through undercover agents.”

Li has pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces a monetary fine and a prison sentence.

“The charge of money laundering conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $500,000, or twice the amount involved, whichever is greater.”

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The popular payments platform Zelle is preparing to implement a major change to its mobile app services.

The platform says it’s preparing to terminate all transaction capabilities for businesses and consumers on the firm’s standalone mobile app, officially ending all services after March 31st.

The app, which processed approximately $20 billion in transactions in 2024, will still be available for download – but it will only offer educational details about scams and fraud and provide a list of the more than 2,200 banks and credit unions that utilize Zelle.

Customers’ transaction records will also be removed from the app.

The change will particularly affect customers at financial firms like Fidelity, which does not offer Zelle to people with cash management accounts.

Zelle says it’s making the change due to the popularity of Zelle within US banks and financial institutions.

“When Zelle first launched, we also created a standalone Zelle-branded app for consumers whose banks or credit unions had not yet joined the network. With the strong growth of adoption by banks and credit unions, we now see just ~2% of transactions on the standalone app.

As a result of our growth, and because most people are now using Zelle in their financial institution’s mobile app or website, we are making a change to the Zelle standalone app.”

Early Warning Services (EWS), which is owned by seven major US banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, says it’s reaching out “directly and repeatedly” to users of the standalone app to make sure they’re are aware of the pending changes.

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JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America say they’ve lost $5.188 billion from customers who have been declared unable to pay their bills.

The banks outlined the Q4 losses in “net charge-offs” statements, revealing loans that the banks have declared as uncollectible and removed from their books after exhausting efforts to recover the owed amounts.

JPMorgan Chase reported the highest charge-offs at $2.4 billion, driven largely by customers with big unpaid balances on their credit cards.

Bank of America recorded $1.5 billion in charge-offs, also primarily from its credit card portfolio.

And Wells Fargo reported $1.288 billion in charge-offs, fueled by higher credit card losses and commercial real estate losses in its office portfolio.

The new numbers come as US credit card debt hits a record $1.21 trillion, according to new numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The collective losses at the three banks represent a $188 million increase over the previous quarter, and a $460 million increase from one year ago.

Despite the losses, the banks reported major earnings in Q4, with JPMorgan Chase declaring $14 billion in profits, Bank of America reporting $6.7 billion and Wells Fargo coming in at $5.1 billion.

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