BofA Securities Inc. Resolves Criminal Investigation with Justice Department Pursuant to Part I of the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure[...]

BofA Securities, Inc. (BoAS) a North Carolina-based financial institution, has agreed to resolve a criminal investigation involving alleged market manipulation schemes by former BoAS employees pursuant to Part I of the Criminal Division's Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP). As part of the resolution, the Justice Department has declined to prosecute BoAS, and BoAS will disgorge approximately $1.96 million and contribute approximately $3.6 million to a victim compensation fund it will establish and administer.

The Justice Department's investigation found evidence that from in or about November 2014 through approximately April 2020, two BoAS traders on the bank's U.S. Treasuries desk separately engaged in schemes to manipulate the secondary (or "cash") market, and one of those employees also engaged in a scheme to manipulate the futures market for U.S. Treasuries by entering spoof orders - that is, orders placed without the intent to execute them at the time they were placed. Collectively, these two former employees entered more than one thousand suspected spoof orders during the relevant time period. One of the traders, Tyler Forbes, pleaded guilty in April 2022 to manipulating U.S. Treasury securities prices.

In May 2025, the Justice Department revised the CEP to increase transparency and encourage voluntary self-disclosure. The Justice Department announced today that it resolved its investigation against BoAS after considering the factors set forth in the updated CEP, including (1) BoAS's timely and voluntary self-disclosure of the misconduct; (2) BoAS's full and proactive cooperation in this matter, including providing all known relevant facts about the misconduct; (3) the nature and seriousness of the offense; (4) BoAS's timely and appropriate remediation, including the termination of the junior trader, an internal review of the trading of all traders on its U.S. Treasuries desk, an internal review of its compliance program and internal controls, a thorough and systematic root-cause analysis, significant investment in and improvements to its surveillance programs and parameters, enhancements to its broader compliance program, and the implementation of external testing of its internal controls; (5) the absence of aggravating circumstances; and (6) BoAS's agreement to disgorge its gains and provide victim compensation.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department's Criminal Division; Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia of the FBI New York Field Office; and Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Criminal Investigations Group made the announcement. The FBI and USPIS are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Sara Hallmark and John J. Liolos of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.