American Express agrees to pay more than $138M to resolve investigation into sales and marketing

NEW YORK — American Express has agreed to pay more than $138 million to resolve a wire fraud investigation related to its sales and marketing practices, federal authorities announced Thursday.

The New York-based financial giant provided inaccurate tax advice to customers and potential customers on wire products primary marketed at small and mid-size businesses, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York’s office said. Customers were told, for example, that the company’s fees were tax-deductible as a business expense.

Harry Chavis, a special agent in charge at the Internal Revenue Service’s office in New York, said the company “misled their customers by touting tax breaks that simply didn’t exist.”

Authorities said an internal investigation led to the termination of approximately 200 employees in 2021, and the company discontinued the products entirely later that year.

“Financial institutions like American Express have no business pitching inaccurate tax avoidance schemes to sell products and turn a quick profit,” Judy Philips, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “This resolution ensures that American Express will be held financially accountable for the unacceptable conduct of its sales employees in misrepresenting the tax benefits of these products.”

American Express said the disputed sales practices ended in 2021 or earlier and that it will pay roughly $230 million in total to resolve the matter.

“We cooperated extensively with these agencies and our regulators and took decisive voluntary action to address these issues, including discontinuing certain products several years ago, conducting a comprehensive internal review, taking appropriate disciplinary measures, making organizational changes, and enhancing policies, compliance, and training programs,” the company said in a statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, American Express will pay a $77.7 million criminal fine and forfeit $60.7 million, which represents the net revenue attributed to sales of the wire products, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The company has also separately entered a multimillion dollar civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.