The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network plans to issue proposed rulemaking to tackle money laundering in real estate and to implement a whistleblower program for individuals who provide the agency information that leads to successful enforcement actions, Director Andrea Gacki said Wednesday.
Speaking remotely to a financial crimes conference in Las Vegas, Gacki said that FinCEN plans to issue proposed rulemaking later this year to address the potential for money laundering created by real estate transactions in the commercial and residential sectors “the contours of which are still being determined.” This would follow a notice FinCEN issued in 2021 seeking public comment on a rule to address the vulnerability in the U.S. real estate market to money laundering and other illicit activity. She also said that FinCEN was working closely with counterparts in Mexico and Canada to develop and expand money laundering indicators to include in new guidance as part of its anti-fentanyl work.
In addition, FinCEN plans to soon move forward with proposed rulemaking for a new whistleblower program, Gacki said. Under the program, the agency will pay awards to eligible whistleblowers who voluntarily provide original information that leads to the successful enforcement of covered actions involving certain violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and U.S. economic sanctions. “While we work on the rulemaking necessary to fully implement this program, FinCEN is already receiving tips, investigating information received through those tips and making referrals to its enforcement colleagues at [Office of Foreign Assets Control] and the Department of Justice,” she said.
