Jack Dorsey Agrees in Principle to Pay $764 Million to Settle DOJ Money Laundering Probe

Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block has reached an agreement in principle to pay $764 million to close a Justice Department investigation into its anti-money-laundering controls. The amount is bigger than the $566 million profit it posted for the third quarter. A filing dated Nov. 3 says the deal would defer a criminal charge for three years, with the charge alleging the company failed to keep an effective program as the Bank Secrecy Act requires. The total monetary component is about $964 million, lowered to $764 million after credits for earlier regulatory settlements, and Block has already set that sum aside.

Origins of the Investigation

The probe began in 2023 after a short seller report accused Cash App of inflating user numbers with duplicate and fraudulent accounts and of weak identity checks that let criminals move illicit money. Block rejected those claims as inaccurate and misleading. The SEC closed its own investigation in March without recommending action. In April 2025, New York’s financial regulator fined Block $40 million after finding that a backlog of suspicious transaction alerts grew from about 18,000 in 2018 to more than 169,000 by 2020, and that one screening system did not automatically block bitcoin transfers to wallets tied to terrorism financing until exposure passed 10%.

Bitcoin Profit Halves at Cash App

Block’s bitcoin gross profit fell 50% to $52 million in the third quarter, down from $104 million a year earlier, while revenue from that segment dropped 11% to $1.8 billion. The company blamed lower fees on certain bitcoin transactions.

Overall gross profit climbed 22% to $3.24 billion, supported by stronger lending and payments activity on Cash App.