While the White House considers and implements immediate actions to aid Ukraine, it must also pursue structural U.S. anti-money laundering reforms to increase the effectiveness of targeted U.S. sanctions and to end the weaponization of U.S. legal and financial systems against democratic and open societies.
On December 6, U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit public comment for Anti-Money Laundering regulations in real estate transactions.
WASHINGTON, DC – In a comment letter submitted yesterday, the FACT Coalition welcomed action by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to bring the U.S. real estate sector under the purview of federal anti-money laundering safeguards. The FACT Coalition offered guidance on how FinCEN should craft a rulemaking that would introduce permanent, nationwide standards to address illicit financial risks in the sector.
This year promises to be one of the most important in recent history in America’s fight against illicit financial flows, global corruption, and kleptocracy.
“The FACT Coalition warmly welcomes this proposed rule, and we are glad to see Treasury’s FinCEN implementing the plain language of this landmark beneficial ownership disclosure law,” said Ian Gary, Executive Director of the FACT Coalition. “These rules, along with the earlier releases this week of the White House’s Strategy on Countering Corruption and the notice of proposed rulemaking from FinCEN aimed at tackling systemic money laundering vulnerabilities in the U.S. real estate sector are a clear demonstration of an emerging American commitment to tackling global corruption, which corrodes democratic governance both at home and abroad.”
On the eve of the Summit for Democracy, a new report – “Private Investments, Public Harm: How the Opacity of the Massive U.S. Private Investment Industry Fuels Corruption and Threatens National Security” – reveals a gaping hole in the U.S. anti-money laundering framework that undermines U.S. national security, jeopardizes the world’s democracies, and touches the lives of ordinary Americans. Learn more at this event.
