FinCEN AML/CFT National Priorities

Question 1

FinCEN issued the first government-wide AML/CFT Priorities in 2021 which describe the most significant threats currently facing the United States and which should warrant additional scrutiny by BNY.

What top 9 priorities must investigators familiarise themselves with?

Answer 1

-Corruption
-Cybercrime
-Foreign and Domestic Terrorist Financing
-Fraud
-Drug Trafficking Organizations
-Transactional Criminal Organisations
-Human Trafficking
-Human Smuggling
-Proliferation Financing

Question 2

Corruption?

Answer 2

Misappropriation of public assets, bribery, extortion, illegal kickbacks or other abuse of power, including political corruption associated with foreign regimes and senior foreign political figures. Corruption can also include money laundering associated with any such abuse of power, misappropriation or bribery, and can consist of domestic or foreign corruption.

Question 3

Cybercrime?

Answer 3

“Any illegal activity that involves a computer, another digital device, or a computer network”; (FinCeN definition); illegal activity carried out or facilitated by electronic systems and devices, such as networks and computers. Cybercrime includes ransomware attacks, phishing, business email compromise (BEC), other email account compromise (EAC) and related schemes, as well as the use of convertible virtual currencies (CVCs) to further such schemes.

Question 4

Foreign and Domestic Terrorist Financing

Answer 4

Providing funds or financial services which are used, to aid terrorists in support of their recruiting or their members, funding logistics and/or funding their operations and procurement of materials. There are both international and domestic terrorist organisations: international terrorist threats include groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, while domestic threats include racially motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) and other anti-authority violent extremists.

Question 5

Fraud

Answer 5

Fraud can include bank, consumer, health care securities and investment, and tax fraud. Fraud can also include new Internet-enabled fraud schemes such as identity theft scams, BEC/EAC or romance scams, as well as COVID-19 or government-benefit related fraud schemes.

Question 6

Drug Trafficking Organizations

Answer 6

Complex organizations with highly defined command-and-control structures that produce, transport, and/or distribute large quantities of one or more illicit drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and synthetic opioids (including fentanyl), methamphetamines, new synthetic psychoactive substances. Drug cartels are composed of multiple DTOs.

Question 7

Transnational Criminal Organizations

Answer 7

Self-Perpetuating associations of individuals who operate transnationally for the purpose of obtaining power, influence, monetary, or commercial gain, wholly or in part by illegal means. TCOs operate irrespective of geography and protect their activities through a pattern of corruption or violence. A TCO may have ties to Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America, and are able to target victims and execute their schemes from anywhere in the world. TCOs can be involved in cybercrime, drug trafficking, wildlife trafficking, human smuggling and human trafficking intellectual property theft, weapons trafficking and corruption. Mexican and Russian TCOs operating in the United State are priority threats.

Question 8

Human Trafficking

Answer 8

The act of recruiting, harbouring, transporting, providing or obtaining a person for forced labour or commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. Human Traffickers earn an income stream from exploiting their victims through forced labour, sexual exploitation, involuntary participation in crimes, or other activities.

Question 9

Human Smuggling

Answer 9

Acts or attempts to bring unauthorised aliens to or into the United States, transport them within the U.S. Harbour unlawful aliens, encourage entry of illegal aliens, or conspire to commit these violations, knowingly or in reckless disregard of illegal status. The income from human smuggling is usually associated with the housing and transportation of victims, earnings from the exploitation of victims, and associated money laundering schemes.

Question 10

Proliferation Financing

Answer 10

Providing funds or financial services which are used, in whole or part, for the manufacture, acquisition, possession, development, export, trans-shipment, brokering, transport, transfer, stockpiling or use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery and related materials (including both technologies and dual use goods used for non-legitimate purposes), in contravention of national laws or, where applicable, international obligations.