FinCEN Announces Actions to Support REPO Multilateral Task Force and Ongoing U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Foreign Government Corruption:
“Financial intelligence is fundamental to U.S. bilateral and multilateral efforts to trace, freeze, and seize the corrupt gains of Russian elites and their enablers,” said FinCEN Acting Director Himamauli Das. “It is critical that financial institutions increase their awareness of indicators of potential Russian sanctions evasion and that governments work together to collect and share information in this rapidly evolving crisis. We appreciate the collaboration of our financial institution and government partners in this effort.”
Today, FinCEN joined the financial intelligence units (FIUs) of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands in issuing a statement of intent to form an FIU Working Group on Russia-Related Illicit Finance and Sanctions. The FIUs affirmed the need to identify concrete actions that participating Working Group Members can take individually or collectively to enhance financial intelligence on sanction-related matters; expedite and increase sharing of financial intelligence in sanction-related matters; establish FIU best practices based on lessons learned, and identify opportunities for actions and partnerships to combat the threat caused by Russia’s unprovoked invasion into Ukraine; and strengthen and facilitate working relationships between FIUs and competent public authorities and the private sector addressing that threat, including by engaging with the REPO Task Force.
Also today, FinCEN issued an Alert to financial institutions on the importance of identifying and quickly reporting suspicious transactions involving real estate, luxury goods, and other high-value assets of sanctioned Russian elites and their proxies. The Alert provides select red flags to assist financial institutions in identifying suspicious transactions, and reminds financial institutions of their Bank Secrecy Act reporting obligations. Because real estate, luxury goods, and other high-value assets can be used as a store of value, a medium of exchange, or an investment, Russian elites and their proxies may use such assets to evade expansive U.S. and other sanctions and restrictions imposed in response to their support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, FinCEN is continuing robust engagement with financial institutions, including through its public-private partnership FinCEN Exchange, to explore typologies and share best practices to enable the private sector to better identify corrupted gains by elites, oligarchs, and their proxies and provide FinCEN and law enforcement with critical information to track, freeze, and seize the assets of Russian elites and their proxies.
Russia-Related Illicit Finance and Sanctions Financial Intelligence Unit Working Group Statement of Intent:
https://www.fincen.gov/news/
FinCEN Alert:
https://www.fincen.gov/sites/