Block reaches $964M DOJ pact over Bank Secrecy Act charges

Block said it has reached an “agreement in principle” with the U.S. Department of Justice that would resolve charges tied to an ineffective anti-money laundering program. For PSPs and high-risk merchants, the point is not just the dollar figure: the case goes straight to transaction monitoring, Bank Secrecy Act controls, and how expensive a compliance failure can become.

1. Under the agreement, Block would pay $764 million to settle the DOJ matter, and the agency would defer charges for three years if the company complies with the terms. Block disclosed the arrangement in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
2. Block said it would receive $200 million in credit under the agreement “for prior regulatory resolutions,” bringing the total value of the pact to $964 million. The company also said the DOJ would “dismiss with prejudice the deferred charges” if Block meets the obligations in the deal.
3. The filing is careful in the way public-company filings tend to be when legal risk is still live: Block said it “cannot provide any assurance that a final agreement will be reached” and warned the DOJ could still take legal action if the parties do not finalize a resolution. It also said the final terms could produce losses above the $764 million it has already accrued.
4. Block’s quarterly report said the matter was not discussed by executives on Tuesday’s analyst call about third-quarter earnings. A Block spokesperson declined to comment beyond the filing, while a DOJ spokesperson said the agency “looks forward to sharing more once the matter is fully resolved.”
5. The filing does not start with this story, of course. In March 2023, Hindenburg Research raised concerns about Block’s fraud monitoring, and that backdrop now sits behind a DOJ settlement that puts anti-money laundering controls front and center for anyone selling payments into higher-risk flows.