The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network today issued an updated fact sheet to clarify how financial institutions can share information with each other about suspected fraud under the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.
The guidance is intended to promote greater information sharing, including in real time, and clarifies that a financial institution may share information about activity involving suspected fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing or other specified unlawful activities, and that it may share that information with any other financial institution eligible to participate in FinCEN’s section 314(b) program to identify illicit financial activity, according to FinCEN. This guidance was last updated in December 2020.
The document also includes examples of the types of information related to fraud and other criminal activity that financial institutions can share under section…
THE TD BANK INSIDER “BRIBE-FOR-DATA” SCHEME (USA)
Date: February 17, 2026 Perpetrator: Edward Low (Former Bank Employee)
Case Description: In a high-profile case of “Insider Threat,” Edward Low, a former employee of TD Bank in New York, pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court to accepting bribes in exchange for confidential customer data. Between 2021 and 2022, Low leveraged his internal access to harvest the personal details of high-balance account holders. He then sold this “hot data” to external fraud syndicates for as little as $26,700 in personal kickbacks.
The external fraudsters used the information Low provided to conduct “Account Takeovers” (ATO), creating fraudulent checks and falsifying bank records to drain over $500,000 from unsuspecting customers. Low even went as far as helping co-conspirators open shell company accounts at a second financial institution where he was later employed. He now faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. This case has sent shockwaves through the global banking sector, highlighting that even the most robust external firewalls cannot protect against a “rogue insider” with administrative credentials.
Link to Original: US Dept of Justice – TD Bank Insider Plea