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TD Bank was already in trouble for its anti-money laundering failures. Now a former employee of the bank’s AML department is facing a felony charge in connection with a separate alleged criminal scheme.
Daria Sewell, 32, pleaded not guilty in New York state court Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of possessing customers’ personally identifiable information.
Although the former TD employee was arrested in September, the case had not been made public until the Manhattan district attorney’s office issued a press release Thursday.
The indictment against Sewell highlights another challenge for TD related to anti-money laundering issues. The U.S. unit of Toronto-based TD Bank Group recently pleaded guilty in federal court to money laundering conspiracy.
Sewell is alleged to have engaged in a different type of misconduct than uncovered by the federal investigation. The state case arose from an investigation focusing on check fraud, authorities said Thursday.
Sewell, who worked at TD from 2023 to May 2024, allegedly used her position in the bank’s AML department to steal from TD customers.
After prosecutors executed a search warrant on her cell phone, they found images of 255 checks with customers’ names, according to prosecutors. The cellphone also contained personal information, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers, of nearly 70 other customers, prosecutors said.
Sewell allegedly distributed customer information through a channel she operated on Telegram, an encrypted instant messaging platform, directing other people to open bank accounts to deposit the checks and then distribute the profits.
“Telegram can be a hotbed for criminal activity, and we’ve uncovered everything from fraud to the sale of illegal firearms to the financing of terrorism,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in the news release.
Sewell faces a single count of Unlawful Possession of Personal Identification Information in the Second Degree. She is currently free on her own recognizance and will appear in court on December 19, according to a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The case against Sewell grew out of a larger investigation in which five other people were charged in a nearly $500,000 check fraud scheme, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said. These five defendants and others communicated with Sewell to discuss strategies for committing check fraud, the district attorney’s office said.
Authorities did not provide the names of the five other defendants, and the DA’s office spokesperson did not say whether any of those individuals are current or former TD Bank employees.
The investigation into the check fraud remains ongoing, according to local prosecutors, who thanked New York Police Department detectives for their work on the case.
Sewell’s attorney, Lawrence Fisher, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
A TD Bank spokesperson said Sewell’s employment was terminated and that the bank has fully cooperated with investigators. The bank spokesperson did not comment on whether other TD employees have been fired in connection with the Manhattan DA’s check fraud investigation.
Sewell’s not guilty plea came the same day TD Bank was convicted in New Jersey federal court in connection with money laundering crimes.
Last month, the American branch of the Canadian bank pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy after allowing hundreds of millions of dollars in dirty funds to flow through his channels.
The sentence imposed Thursday by U.S. District Judge Esther Salas was in line with what federal prosecutors recommended. The bank must pay a $1.4 billion fine, forfeit $452 million in property involved in the violation and retain an independent monitor for three years. There is also a probationary period of five years.
The Justice Department has prosecuted two non-executive TD employees in connection with the money laundering investigation, but no high-level executives have been charged. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in October that criminal investigations were underway into individual employees at every level of the bank.