A securities class action brought by the New England Teamsters Pension Fund names Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) and a number of its executives as defendants, with the law firm Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP handling the case on the fund's behalf. The lawsuit was filed under the caption New England Teamsters Pension Fund v. Bank of America Corporation, assigned docket number 26-cv-09137 before the Southern District of New York.
The complaint brings forward claims rooted in Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, along with SEC Rule 10b-5 issued under that statute, covering anyone who bought or otherwise took ownership of Bank of America common stock at any point during the period running from August 1, 2025 through October 13, 2026.
Structured as a bank holding company with international reach, Bank of America channels the bulk of its day-to-day financial operations through a fully owned subsidiary entity known as Bank of America, N.A. (BANA). Regulatory action arrived on December 23, 2024, when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — a bureau operating within the U.S. Department of the Treasury — directed BANA through a cease-and-desist order to undertake a broad set of corrective measures targeting shortfalls identified in its Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering frameworks, as well as its sanctions compliance operations, an enforcement instrument subsequently referred to as the 2024 Consent Order.
Throughout the class period, the company told investors that the 2024 Consent Order touched on only "certain aspects" of its compliance framework, that it had already taken what it described as "significant steps" toward meeting the order's demands, and that any financial fallout from the underlying compliance shortfalls would not rise to the level of a "material adverse" impact on its bottom line.
The complaint alleges that, throughout the period in question, those listed as defendants either possessed knowledge of — or acted with deliberate disregard toward — a cluster of undisclosed material facts: that longstanding structural weaknesses in BANA's Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering programme left the institution without the capacity to adequately monitor trillions of dollars in transaction flow, producing suspicious-activity reports that were filed late, filed inaccurately, or not filed at all in connection with billions of dollars in conduct that had been flagged for review; that internal records had documented those BSA/AML weaknesses across multiple years, yet remedial action following the 2024 Consent Order had fallen short of what the problems warranted; that BANA's sanctions-compliance framework carried its own vulnerabilities, with a portion of processed transactions subsequently identified as apparent violations of several sanctions regimes; and that bringing those shortfalls into conformance would require expanded investment in compliance infrastructure while simultaneously leaving the bank exposed to penalties and related costs of a considerable scale.
After trading concluded on October 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Treasury disclosed a set of coordinated enforcement measures targeting BANA, with combined penalties and settlement figures reaching upward of $1.21 billion. Two separate enforcement actions produced the bulk of the financial exposure: FinCEN set a $1.2 billion penalty — folding in a $750 million charge that the OCC had already levied — while OFAC reached a distinct $11.6 million settlement on its own terms.
The FinCEN order documented that BANA had accepted responsibility for deliberately contravening the Bank Secrecy Act, with the bank having left more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions either undetected or unreported within required timeframes. Regulators at the OCC determined that corrective actions required under the 2024 Consent Order had not been carried out by BANA, leaving its BSA/AML compliance framework still falling short of required standards.
Third-quarter figures released by Bank of America on October 14, 2026, showed a $0.17 reduction in diluted earnings per share attributable to a charge tied to the regulatory settlement. Trading in Bank of America shares on October 14, 2026, pushed the stock as low as $49.26 during the session, with the price recovering partially to settle at $51.39 by the close — a retreat of 4.8% against the prior day's finish of $53.96.
Those who held or acquired Bank of America common stock throughout the defined class period and sustained financial losses may fall within the proposed class, leaving them potentially positioned to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff. Any party seeking Lead Plaintiff status is required to submit the required motion papers by December 15, 2026.
