A multistate settlement finalized around July 2025 required Block Inc. to allocate approximately $80 million toward remediating anti-money laundering deficiencies uncovered during November 2023 examinations

Overview Debates Related claims Topics Sources

The deferred prosecution agreement between Block Inc. and the Department of Justice places the company under federal supervision for three years, during which any compliance failure could reactivate the criminal money laundering charge

Block Inc. reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice on a three-year deferred prosecution agreement resolving a money laundering charge tied to anti-money laundering compliance program deficiencies

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported that THORChain's network halt inadvertently delayed North Korean hackers attempting to launder funds stolen in a $6.3 billion Binance hack

In April 2025, the New York Department of Financial Services issued a consent order against Block Inc. with a $40 million penalty for Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering violations

The three-year deferred prosecution agreement between Block Inc. and the U.S. Department of Justice requires court approval to become final

Pangolin Intelligence founder Jonty disputed a Nov. 2 Arkham report alleging direct Binance deposits by hackers, explaining that transactions were executed by arbitrage traders utilizing THORChain Asgard vaults

Regulators, including the U.S. Department of Justice, specifically cited high-risk transactions involving digital assets like Bitcoin as a key area of weakness in Cash App's anti-money laundering controls

The total financial cost tied to Block Inc.'s three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to be about $964 million, with an expected net payment of approximately $764 million

Pangolin Intelligence founder Jonty stated that on days of major hacks attributed to North Korea's TraderTraitor group, over 99% of THORChain volume was illicit laundering

Block Inc.'s cooperation with federal regulators throughout the Justice Department's anti-money laundering investigation contributed to prosecutors offering a deferred prosecution agreement rather than pursuing an immediate criminal conviction

Regulatory examinations of Cash App documented weak spots in transaction monitoring and customer due diligence under Bank Secrecy Act requirements

Cash App's compliance backlogs arose as rapid user growth between 2019 and 2020 outpaced the platform's transaction monitoring and customer due diligence capabilities

Block Inc. increased its anti-money laundering-related reserve from $526 million at the end of June 2026 to $764 million at the end of September 2026 to cover the expected Justice Department payment

In October 2026, Bank of America was fined $1.21 billion for anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance violations, marking its largest regulatory fine in a decade

American Express was fined $350 million by U.S. financial authorities for failing to detect and report suspicious money laundering transactions

Following the October 29 Binance hack, automated scripts distributed funds from the original 10 attacker wallets across over 100 new addresses, then fan-out split them across more than 400 addresses

As of November 2026, on days following major crypto hacks by the TraderTraitor group, over 99% of transaction volume moving through THORChain has consisted of laundering stolen funds

North Korean cyber threat group TraderTraitor relies on external Chinese-speaking money laundering syndicates to launder cryptocurrency proceeds

North Korean money laundering networks pass stolen assets through complex webs of intermediary addresses to disrupt transaction monitoring algorithms that calculate wallet taint and exposure

The FBI observed TraderTraitor hackers converting stolen Binance assets primarily into Ethereum and expected them to launder funds through decentralized finance platforms and instant-swap services