Former TD Bank Employee Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes, Laundering $5.5 Million to Colombia

NEWARK - A former Florida-based employee of TD Bank, N.A., Leonardo Ayala ("Ayala"), pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes in return for facilitating a money laundering network's movement of over $5.5 million to Colombia through TD Bank accounts.

Ayala, 25, pleaded guilty today before the Honorable Esther Salas in Newark to a two-count Information charging him with conspiring to launder monetary instruments and for receipt of bribes by a bank employee. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11.

According to court filings and statements made in court, from June 2023 to November 2023, Ayala, 25, of Homestead, Florida, then a TD Bank employee in Doral, Florida, accepted bribes and leveraged his position to facilitate a money laundering network's expatriation of over $5.5 million from the United States to Colombia. Ayala, who bragged about being "tapped in with them Venezuelans," opened fraudulent bank accounts, issued debit cards, unblocked debit cards that TD Bank had restricted due to questionable activity, and provided other banking services to his co-conspirators. In particular, Ayala issued over 150 debit cards to six business accounts that had been opened by a different TD Bank employee in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Those debit cards were then used to make over 10,000 ATM withdrawals throughout Colombia, totaling approximately $4,723,114.64. Ayala's co-conspirators paid him over $6,000 in exchange for these services, typically either in cash or through a peer-to-peer digital payment network.

The charge of money laundering conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the amount involved in the offense, whichever is greater. The charge of receipt of bribes by a bank employee carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1,000,000 or three times the amount involved in the offense, whichever is greater.

The DEA, IRS-CI, and FDIC-OIG investigated the case. The department also thanks the Morristown Police Department for their assistance with the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marko Pesce, Chief of the Bank Integrity, Money Laundering, and Recovery Unit for the District of New Jersey and Trial Attorneys D. Zachary Adams and Chelsea Rooney of the Criminal Division's Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section are prosecuting the case.

The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section's Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers and employees whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system.

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Defense counsel: Peter Katz, Esq.