Toronto-Dominion Bank was sued by a group of former employees who claim they were improperly fired from their jobs amid disclosure of widespread criminal money laundering through bank branches.

Five Chinese and Chinese-American former employees sued Toronto-Dominion claiming they were dismissed from branches in New York as part of the bank’s effort to crack down on money laundering. At least 22 people were fired from four Chinatown branches in the city’s Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens boroughs, they said.

The plaintiffs claim they were hired to forge ties with Toronto-Dominion customers with Chinese ancestry and then subjected to illegal firing and debanking based on their ethnicity. They are seeking unspecified damages.

The former employees “were punished for crimes committed by other Chinese individuals – crimes they were not involved in by individuals they did not know”, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.

The five plaintiffs are seeking to sue as a nationwide class of Chinese and Chinese-American Toronto-Dominion branch employees in the US who have been investigated and fired for “unspecific violations” of the company’s code of conduct and ethics since 2022.

Toronto-Dominion declined to comment, citing pending litigation.