Lawyers mounting the class action against Commonwealth Bank for not disclosing anti-money laundering breaches before last August, say their case has been strengthened by the record settlement of Austrac's legal claim.Under a deal announced to the ASX on Monday, CBA has agreed to pay fines worth $700 million after it admitted to almost 54,000 transgressions under Australian anti-money laundering laws.Maurice Blackburn launched a class action against the bank last August, arguing that the company should have revealed to investors as early as 2015 that it faced regulatory action for breaches of the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act.Andrew Watson, the head of Maurice Blackburn's national class action practice, said the large fine underlined the "material" nature of CBA's non-compliance. "The size of the Austrac fine and the scale of the wrongdoing puts paid to any suggestion that these issues were not material to shareholders and should not have been revealed earlier than they were," he said."Our view is that it clearly strengthens our claim, so it's a positive development for all of our claimants involved in the class action we have on foot in the Federal Court."CBA yesterday did not comment on any implications its settlement with Austrac might have for its defence of the class action.The Austrac case did not address issues relating to the bank's continuous disclosure obligations as an ASX-listed company.Those matters are continuing to be investigated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.In a statement of defence lodged in the Federal Court in February the bank denies all allegations made against it by Maurice Blackburn."CBA rejects the assertion that it had any price sensitive information in respect of its AML/CTF controls environment or the risk of the Austrac proceeding, and maintains that it at all times complied with its continuous disclosure obligations," the bank said in its February statement.Maurice Blackburn argues in its statement of claim that senior executives and directors of the bank knew in the second half of 2015 about potential breaches of anti-money laundering laws.CBA disclosed to the ASX on 9 August last year that issues relating to transaction reporting in the bank's fleet of intelligent deposit machines had been brought to the attention of the board in 2015.Maurice Blackburn argues that the bank had an obligation to inform investors about its AML compliance problems before Austrac launched its civil claim on 3 August last year.The plaintiffs' assert that the board chose to sit on "material" information that could have influenced the buying and selling decisions of investors.CBA argues that Austrac did not indicate before 3 August that it had decided to take action against the bank."CBA first became aware of AUSTRAC's proceeding on the day it filed its statement of claim with the Federal Court on 3 August 2017," the bank stated in February.While the plaintiffs will have little difficulty showing that CBA committed legal breaches they will have to demonstrate that investors suffered financial harm as a result of the bank's decision not to disclose its compliance problems earlier. The