Block reaches three-year deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ over money laundering charge

The Cash App and Square parent gets a three-year window to show federal prosecutors its anti-money laundering program is fixed Block, the company behind Cash App and Square, has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to defer a money laundering charge for three years. That is not an acquittal. It is closer to probation for a corporation, and the clock is now running. The deal is a deferred prosecution agreement, or DPA, tied to Block’s anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. It follows years of regulatory pressure over how Cash App monitored transactions and vetted customers, including activity involving Bitcoin. What the deferred prosecution agreement means Think of a DPA as a suspended sentence that arrives before the trial. Prosecutors file a charge but agree to hold off on pursuing it. If the company meets its obligations for the agreed period, the charge typically goes away. For Block, that period is three years. The company avoids a courtroom fight, but it stays under federal oversight for the duration. The charge stems from serious gaps in Block’s AML program. Earlier reviews flagged weak spots in Cash App’s transaction monitoring and customer due diligence. ...