Compliancex

Did Bank of America fail to properly enforce anti-money laundering oversight?

The bank has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but authorities are currently investigating a case in which a notoriously violent Mexican drug gang, Las Zetas, used a Bank of America account in Texas to hide drug-running profits through investments in U.S. horse racing, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The FBI filed a report last month alleging that Jose Trevino Morales, an American citizen, fronted the account, laundering money into to Bank of America accounts since December 2009. Morales pleaded not guilty last week to federal money-laundering.

Here’s more on the story from the WSJ:

In criminal indictments last month against 14 people tied to the alleged money-laundering conspiracy, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales were accused of steering money from drug trafficking into U.S. racehorses into order to conceal the source of the cash. The two brothers allegedly are high-ranking Zetas. They remain at large in Mexico.

The Zetas cartel ships thousands of pounds of cocaine into the U.S. each year, according to the FBI. It also has a ruthless reputation. Authorities said earlier this year that the gang dumped 49 headless, handless bodies in garbage bags along highways in Mexico.

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Image Credit El Paso Times/Associated Press