WASHINGTON—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a Financial Trend Analysis (FTA) reflecting an increase in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reporting associated with the use of convertible virtual currency (CVC) and online child sexual exploitation (OCSE) and human trafficking.
This FTA is based on BSA reporting filed between January 2020 and December 2021.
“Human traffickers and perpetrators of related crimes despicably exploit adults and children for financial gain,” said FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki. “Financial institutions’ vigilance and timely reporting is critical to providing law enforcement agencies with the information needed to investigate potential cases of human trafficking, sexual crimes against children, and related crimes. This reporting ultimately helps law enforcement protect and save innocent lives.”
Key Findings
FinCEN said its analysis highlights the value of BSA reporting filed by regulated financial institutions, noting key findings in the FTA include:
- The total number of OCSE- and human trafficking-related BSA reports involving CVC increased from 336 in 2020 to 1,975 in 2021
- BSA filers specifically reported child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or human trafficking and CSAM in 95 percent of the OCSE- and human trafficking-related BSA reports involving CVC
- BSA reports overwhelmingly identified bitcoin as the primary CVC used for purported OCSE- and human trafficking-related activity, however, this does not necessarily mean that other types of CVC are not used for such crimes
- FinCEN identified four typologies (i.e. the use of darknet marketplaces that distribute CSAM, peer-to-peer exchanges, CVC mixers, and CVC kiosks) that describe common trends within BSA reports related to OCSE and human trafficking
New Regs for Investment Advisors
Separately, FinCEN has proposed new regulations that would require investment advisers to help prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The announcement comes a week after the agency proposed similar rules for the real estate sector, part of a wider effort to plug what officials say are holes in the regulatory system that can otherwise allow alleged criminals, corrupt foreign officials and sanctions-barred people and companies to access the U.S. financial system, Reuters said.
The draft rule, which revives a prior proposal that was last issued in 2015 but never adopted, would require investment advisers to adopt programs designed to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
It would apply to advisers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as those who report to the SEC as exempt from registration, Reuters noted.
It’s Still Your Very Best Deal in Daily News. But Only if You Like Free.
The biggest, best and freshest news reporting in credit unions remains free! Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more. So stop paying those bank-fee-like subscription prices from other so-called “news” publications!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?