Block agrees in principle to pay $764M to settle DOJ anti-money-laundering probe

Block has agreed in principle to pay $764 million to resolve a Justice Department investigation into its anti-money-laundering controls. The agreement, reached in October and disclosed in a November 3 SEC filing, would defer for three years a criminal charge that Block failed to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program under the Bank Secrecy Act.

The gross figure is about $964 million, reduced to $764 million after credits for earlier regulatory settlements, and Block has already set the amount aside. The probe began in 2023 after a Hindenburg Research report on Cash App, which Block called inaccurate and misleading. The SEC closed its separate investigation in March without recommending enforcement, and New York's financial regulator fined Block $40 million in April 2025.

In the third quarter, bitcoin gross profit fell 50% to $52 million on lower Cash App trading fees, while overall gross profit rose 22% to $3.24 billion.