Ex-TD Bank anti-money laundering employee in U.S. faces criminal charge

The employee was indicted for allegedly distributing personal information of TD Bank customers, the latest criminal probe to hit the U.S. arm of the Canadian financial institution.

A former American TD Bank employee who worked in the bank’s heavily scrutinized anti-money laundering department in the U.S. has been criminally indicted in New York, the Manhattan district attorney announced Thursday.

Daria Sewell was charged with unlawful possession of personal identifying information she allegedly stole from TD Bank customers and distributed on Telegram, according to a statement from Alvin Bragg’s office.

The indictment comes shortly after TD Bank’s U.S. arm pleaded guilty to violating a U.S. law aimed at preventing money laundering — the largest bank ever to do so — and was hit with a historic US$3 billion fine.

“This defendant allegedly abused her access while working in TD Bank’s anti-money laundering department to steal from the bank’s own customers,” Bragg said in a statement.

“Telegram can be a hotbed for criminal activity, and we have uncovered everything from fraud to the sale of illegal firearms and the financing of terrorism.”

The charges against Sewell stemmed from a larger investigation that charged five more people in an alleged cheque fraud scheme that totaled nearly US$500,000, the district attorney’s office said, which allegedly saw the accused deposit stolen cheques into their personal bank accounts.

The investigation found the other five defendants, among others, allegedly communicated with Sewell about “strategies for committing” cheque fraud.

According to the indictment, a search warrant executed on Sewell’s phone found she had images of 255 cheques with names of TD Bank customers, along with personal information of nearly 70 other customers including names, addresses and social security numbers.