Combatting Money Laundering in Cyber Crime

Summary#

This bill would change several federal rules to help law enforcement fight money laundering and other crimes that use digital asset transactions. It expands the United States Secret Service's listed investigative authorities to include certain money laundering and structured-transaction offenses and to add a specific criminal code section (1960). It also removes the phrase "federally insured" and points to the definition of covered financial institutions in section 5312 of title 31. The bill lengthens a FinCEN data-exchange retention period from 5 years to 10 years and changes a related 6-year period to 10 years in another statute. Finally, the bill requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report within 1 year on how section 6102 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 has been implemented, focusing on law enforcement's ability to identify and deter money laundering in cyber crimes.

What it means for you#

• Federal investigators, specifically the Secret Service, could have clearer or broader authority to investigate some crimes tied to digital assets and money transmitting activity.
• Some official records or data exchanges managed under FinCEN rules would be kept or available for 10 years instead of 5.
• A GAO report is required within a year to assess how a 2020 anti-money-laundering law is being put into practice, with a focus on cyber-related money laundering.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Proponents' View#

The bill text and title say it is intended to strengthen the Secret Service's ability to investigate crimes related to digital asset transactions and to counter transnational cyber criminal activity, including unlicensed money transmitting businesses, structured transactions, and fraud against financial institutions. The bill was introduced by Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Chuck Grassley.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.