Gerardo Aquino

Introduction

Gerardo Aquino, 40, of Hollywood, Florida, pleaded guilty in Newark before the Honorable Esther Salas to a two-count Information charging him with conspiring to launder monetary instruments and receipt of bribes by a bank employee — admitting he accepted bribes and facilitated the laundering of more than $4.8 million to Colombia while employed by TD Bank, N.A. U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced the plea; Aquino is scheduled to be sentenced on March 23, 2027.

Background Information

From April 2022 to November 2023, Aquino accepted bribes and exploited his position as a bank employee to help launder illicit funds to Colombia. He opened fraudulent accounts, issued hundreds of debit cards to co-conspirators, and unblocked debit cards that TD Bank had restricted due to potential fraud. The bank accounts and debit cards were then used to funnel approximately $4.8 million out of the United States — a pipeline run past the bank’s own fraud restrictions by the employee responsible for unblocking them.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Pleaded guilty. Aquino admitted taking more than $8,000 in bribes — cash and peer-to-peer digital payments — to help funnel roughly $4.8 million out of the United States to Colombia.

As part of the scheme, Aquino opened 86 individual customer accounts using the same exact commercial address in Miami. Those accounts alone were used to launder over $3 million in illicit funds to Colombia. In exchange, Aquino received more than $8,000 in bribes — paid in cash and through a peer-to-peer digital payment network. The scale of the laundering and the size of the bribe total sit side by side in the plea: millions moved for a payoff counted in thousands.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said: “Gerardo Aquino abused his position of trust at TD Bank and enriched himself in the process.” Duva warned that insiders like him “play a critical role” for criminal organizations and “abuse our financial system.” U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer was blunter: “From inside TD Bank, Aquino facilitated the laundering of millions of dollars in exchange for bribes. By enabling crime instead of preventing it, Aquino provided a soft entry point into our banking system for malevolent actors.” The money laundering conspiracy charge 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 receipt of bribes charge, a maximum of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1,000,000 or three times the amount involved, whichever is greater.

Current Status

Aquino awaits sentencing on March 23, 2027, before Judge Salas in Newark. U.S. Attorney Frazer credited special agents and task force officers of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Newark Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), New York Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia Tarasca, with the investigation, and thanked the Morristown Police Department for its assistance. The prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion — a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings. Defense counsel is Patrick Joyce, Esq.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Aquino’s employment at TD Bank is finished by his own admission, and his exposure runs to 20 years on the laundering conspiracy count and 30 on the bribery count before Judge Salas weighs the sentence in March 2027. The case’s institutional meaning was put by DEA Associate Chief of Operations Greg Millard: “corrupt financial insiders are just as critical to criminal networks as those who move drugs or incite violence.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Marko Pesce, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division for the District of New Jersey, and Trial Attorneys D. Zachary Adams and Chelsea Rooney of the Bank Integrity Unit of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section are prosecuting the case — a unit whose mandate is to investigate and prosecute bank employees whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system. For TD Bank, the plea documents fraud restrictions lifted from inside; for the system, it documents what the U.S. Attorney called a soft entry point — an employee paid in thousands to move millions.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey, “Former TD Bank Employee Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes, Laundering $4.8 Million to Colombia” — source