Money Laundering

MONEY LAUNDERING

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released Issue 12, October 2007, of The SAR Activity Review—Trends, Tips & Issues, which includes many new examples of how law enforcement agencies are using Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to discover and disrupt criminal enterprises and protect the financial system. The latest issue also contains guidance on definitions and criminal statutes for the SAR characterizations of suspicious activity.

The expanded descriptions of law enforcement cases are intended to illustrate the importance of Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) data. Many of the cases were initiated by BSA report filings.

The guide can be downloaded at www.fincen.gov/sarreviewissue12.pdf.

FinCEN issued an advisory to U.S. financial institutions to guard against threats of illicit Iranian activity related to money laundering, terrorist financing and weapons of mass destruction proliferating financing. The Financial Advisory Task Force (FATF) cited Iran’s lack of a comprehensive anti-money laundering and combating the finance of terrorism (AML/CFT) program as a significant vulnerability within the international financial system.

The FinCEN advisory is available at www.fincen.gov/guidance_fi_increasing_mlt_iranian.html.