Report: FinCEN did not Prevent Banks from Illegal Activities such as Money Laundering
The leaked documents of the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) unveiled many untold truths about the watchdog and the world major banks.
Leaked Documents of SARs
The rules and regulations designed by FinCEN are not sufficient to counter illicit activities, such as money laundering. And the most interesting thing is that the world top banks are involved rather than cryptocurrency exchanges.
In its latest report on September 20, BuzzFeed News revealed that it has received documents explaining the “suspicious activity reports” in the period between 2000 and 2017. Thousands of SARs are sent by the banks to FinCEN in a period of seventeen years. Per the BuzzFeed news, the reports “offer an unprecedented view of global financial corruption, the banks enabling it, and the government agencies that watch as it flourishes.”
The information about SARs explains that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network did not take notice of the illicit activities happening in the financial world. BuzzFeed News explained,”Laws that were meant to stop financial crime have instead allowed it to flourish.”
“So long as a bank files a notice that it may be facilitating criminal activity, it all but immunizes itself and its executives from criminal prosecution. The suspicious activity alert effectively gives them a free pass to keep moving the money and collecting the fees,” the news platform added.
World Top Banks are Involved
FinCEN has accepted millions of SARs from 2000 to 2017, but it has never focused on preventing banks from being involved in illegal financial activities. Major institutions are involved, including JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Bank of New York Mellon, and Deutsche Bank.
“Some banks treat SARs as a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card, filing alerts about a huge array of transactions without actually moving to halt them,” the report stated. “In some cases, banks filed numerous reports on the same clients, detailing their suspected crimes over the course of years while continuing to welcome their business.
The SARs documents have unmasked the major banks of the world as they are actively involved in illegal things. BuzzFeed News said:
“The world’s biggest banks did business with clients they suspected were corrupt.”