A planned cost-saving rollback of 142 federal bank data sharing agreements would hinder state and local investigations into suspected money laundering and terrorist financing, according to former law enforcement agents. The revocation of the agreements between the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and state and local law enforcement agencies would save the department $1.4 million and account for nearly half of a proposed $3 million funding cut for the bureau under the Obama administration's fiscal year 2012 budget. Under the plan, recommended in FinCEN's 2012 budget request, state and local law enforcement agencies would no longer have...
The United States should overhaul its primary anti-money laundering law to allow government agencies and banks to better share data, a former U.S. State Department official told lawmakers Thursday.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit had one overriding objective: to better share its cache of Bank Secrecy Act data with investigators.
Federal officials will work to "mitigate the effect" of a proposed budget cut that would limit law enforcement access to Bank Secrecy Act data, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday.
A proposed funding cut that would restrict some governmental access to a U.S. Bank Secrecy Act database could also make it harder for state examiners to vet banks and money services businesses, say critics of the plan.
The proposed cancellation of 142 federal bank data sharing agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies would not impact financial crime investigations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday.
The U.S. Treasury Department budgetary proposal to end direct access to its Bank Secrecy Act database by 142 law enforcement agencies would have a "destructive effect" on investigations by New York City's top prosecutor, a former Justice Department official said Thursday.