Florida-based BankAtlantic Bancorp has been fined $10 million for failure to detect millions of dollars in drug money wired to accounts at i...

Florida-based BankAtlantic Bancorp has been fined $10 million for failure to detect millions of dollars in drug money wired to accounts at its Fort Lauderdale branch. It has, however, avoided federal criminal charges. Under a "deferred prosecution agreement," the US Justice Department has agreed not to charge BankAtlantic for the failure to maintain an anti-money laundering compliance programme, as long as it abides by the agreement for the next year. More than $50 million of suspicious money, including $10 million in identified drug proceeds, was wire transferred to BankAtlantic accounts between 1997 and 2004, according to the US Justice Department. Drug Enforcement Agency agents were used, posing as professional money launderers, to handle drug proceeds for traffickers based in Colombia, according to documents released this week by the Justice Department. The accounts were overseen by an account manager in BankAtlantic's international private banking branch. The branch manager has been fired along with other "culpable employees," according to the Justice Department. "We feel terrible and embarrassed that we had certain deficiencies," said Alan Levan, BankAtlantic's chairman and chief executive. "When we recognized those deficiencies, we moved heaven and earth and spent millions of dollars to make it right." The bank now has over 45 employees working on compliance issues.