El Paso, Texas, November 12, 2024
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in partnership with Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (CI), held the eighth event of its Promoting Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl (PROTECT) series of the FinCEN Exchange program.
The event brought together public and private sector representatives in the area surrounding El Paso, Texas to discuss ways to deepen collaboration against the illicit trafficking of fentanyl into the United States. Financial institutions briefed on emerging trends and typologies they have observed regarding fentanyl-related money laundering, federal law enforcement discussed the threat that illegal fentanyl trafficking poses to the U.S. Southern border, and FinCEN presented on precursor chemicals involved in fentanyl-related illicit finance.
To date, FinCEN and CI have co-hosted PROTECT events in Boston, MA; Tucson, AZ; Miami, FL; Portland, OR; Denver, CO; New York, NY; and Charlotte, NC. Today’s event marks the second time FinCEN has convened a FinCEN Exchange session in Texas focused on combating illicit financial transactions related to fentanyl trafficking. Prior to launching its PROTECT series in May 2024, FinCEN gathered financial institutions, regulators, and law enforcement in San Antonio in July 2023, with the goal of promoting efficient and effective reporting by financial institutions of actionable information related to fentanyl trafficking.
Combatting fentanyl trafficking remains a top priority for FinCEN, as fentanyl continues to threaten the nation’s security, economy, communities, and families. FinCEN encourages financial institutions to carefully review its August 2019 and June 2024 advisories on the trafficking of fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and other synthetic opioids and the precursor chemicals and associated manufacturing equipment needed to synthesize these deadly drugs.
FinCEN Exchange is a voluntary public-private partnership that convenes relevant stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. FinCEN Exchange aims to protect our national security and our citizens from harm by combatting money laundering and its related crimes, including terrorism, through public-private dialogue that encourages, enables, and acknowledges industry focus on high-value and high-impact activities. FinCEN Exchange began in 2017 and was codified as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020.
“Promoting Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl” (or PROTECT) is a planned series of ten FinCEN Exchange sessions held in 2024 in U.S. cities highly impacted by the opioid epidemic as part of the Treasury Department’s Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force, which is in partnership with IRS Criminal Investigation. The series is specifically designed to work with regional and local financial institutions that are deeply connected to their communities and offer unique perspectives on the opioid crisis. This series of FinCEN Exchanges focuses on how law enforcement can best support efforts by financial institutions to monitor activity that may be tied to the illicit trafficking of fentanyl. At these exchanges, Federal officials brief on information critical to tracking these illicit financial flows, including typologies and red-flag indicators of fentanyl-related activity, and discuss what types of information are particularly valuable when financial institutions report suspicious activity. The PROTECT series was launched in collaboration with other government partners, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, various U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and local law enforcement agencies.
Source – U.S. FinCEN