[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6477 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6477
To require the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the
Interior to carry out a study with respect to wildlife trafficking
financing and proceeds, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 25, 2022
Ms. Dean introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on
Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the
Interior to carry out a study with respect to wildlife trafficking
financing and proceeds, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Combating Wildlife Trafficking
Financing and Proceeds Study Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The 2017 report by the think tank, Global Financial
Integrity, entitled ``Transnational Crime and the Developing
World'', determined that the annual global retail value of
illegal wildlife trade is between $5 billion to $23 billion,
and when losses to ecosystem services are considered, the World
Bank estimates the cost of environmental crime is between $1
trillion and $2 trillion, annually.
(2) Wildlife traffickers do not prefer particular species
or commodities, but instead, according to the non-governmental
organization, United for Wildlife, wildlife traffickers focus
on the demand, availability, profit potential, and relatively
low risk associated with acquiring, trading, and distributing
wildlife globally.
(3) The trafficking of wildlife affects human health
because of undetected spread of zoonotic diseases, scarcity in
food resources, and the environmental results of degraded
ecosystems.
(4) Also, the trafficking of illicit wildlife such as
pangolins from Africa, macaws from Peru, turtles from the
United States, and rosewood species smuggled globally threatens
our national security at home and American interests abroad
because rogue organizations, including transnational criminal
organizations, use the proceeds to fund illegal and violent
acts throughout the world, fueling corruption and benefiting
from corrupt government officials, weakening the rule of law,
and distorting commercial markets.
(5) Many of these supply chains are affected by Chinese
activity, from the criminal organizations involved in the
initial poaching of targeted commodities to the demand for
goods produced from endangered plants and animals.
(6) The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces
conducted an investigation known as ``Operation Apex'' which
identified extensive overlaps among drug trafficking
organizations, professional money launderers, and wildlife
trafficking syndicates.
(7) A study conducted by Federal entities that examined
wildlife trafficking networks determined that--
(A) more than two-thirds of persons trafficking
wildlife also trafficked narcotics;
(B) 10 percent of persons trafficking wildlife were
doing so to finance terrorism; and
(C) a small percentage of persons trafficking
wildlife were doing so to finance the proliferation of
nuclear materials.
(8) Because wildlife trafficking is executed as part of a
commodity-agnostic global enterprise, the United States and
allies of the United States should focus efforts to reduce
wildlife trafficking on curtailing the expansive networks that
traffic wildlife and other goods and on bringing enforcement
actions against persons who launder the proceeds of those
persons who traffic wildlife rather than pursue specific
nations, groups, or commodities.
(9) In the past decade, the illicit wildlife trade has
moved online, mainly to social media platforms, creating
jurisdictional and technical challenges for law enforcement.
SEC. 3. STUDY.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of
the Interior, acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shall
jointly, not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this
Act, conduct a study with respect to wildlife trafficking financing and
proceeds and submit a report on such study to--
(1) the Committees on Financial Services and Natural
Resources of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
and Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
(b) Consultation.--In conducting the study required under
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the
Interior shall consult with such other Federal officials as the
Secretaries determine appropriate, including the Secretary of State,
the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of Homeland
Security Investigations, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of
Defense.
(c) Input.--In conducting the study required under subsection (a),
the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior shall
solicit and incorporate, where possible and as determined appropriate
by the Secretaries, input from--
(1) domestic, foreign, and multilateral law enforcement
organizations,
(2) the intelligence community;
(3) wildlife advocates;
(4) experts in transnational organized crime, cyber-crime,
and illicit finance; and
(5) nongovernmental organizations, academia, foundations,
and other public and private entities.
(d) Contents of Report.--The report required under subsection (a)
shall include--
(1) an overview of the criminal and complicit actors,
including individuals, organizations, corrupt networks, and
nations, that participate in wildlife trafficking from source
to market, both proactively and permissively.
(2) an overview of the types of wildlife trafficked, for
what purposes, and from where;
(3) an overview of the roles of professional money
launderers, corporate and trust formation agents, kleptocrats,
and other supply chain and financial facilitators with respect
to wildlife trafficking;
(4) a discussion, based on a consideration of relevant
prior studies and investigations, of the convergence of
wildlife trafficking with other types of trafficking, including
trafficking in persons, timber trafficking, and narcotics
trafficking, including shared supply chains and financial
facilitators;
(5) an overview of the national security implications
associated with wildlife trafficking and the financing and
proceeds of wildlife trafficking, including--
(A) potential threats to security, including
corruption and State instability resulting from
wildlife trafficking; and
(B) potential threats to public health, including
global pandemic and ecosystem collapse;
(6) an examination of how anti-corruption activities might
be leveraged with respect to mitigating the ways in which
corrupt officials and politically exposed persons enable and
engage in wildlife trafficking financing and proceeds;
(7) an examination of payments methods used to facilitate
the trafficking of wildlife, including its financing and
proceeds;
(8) an examination of how online platforms are used to
facilitate trafficking and trafficking-related payments that--
(A) describes the extent to which illicit wildlife
trade occurs online, including through social media
platforms, ecommerce sites, and encrypted messaging and
other surface web platforms;
(B) identifies payments- and proceeds-related
reasons that different online platforms may be chosen
by persons trafficking in wildlife; and
(C) identifies online platforms that are used most
for transactions and payments involving trafficking in
wildlife;
(9) an examination of private-sector best practices for
combating wildlife trafficking financing and proceeds
(including those found in the financial services industry), as
well as any practices that have not had success combating
wildlife trafficking financing and proceeds;
(10) a discussion of ways in which existing laws,
multilateral agreements, and forums could be expanded or
modified to combat wildlife trafficking financing and disrupt
its proceeds;
(11) an identification of tools of international and
national engagement, including partnerships with private sector
and international financial institutions, that could be
coordinated to combat wildlife trafficking financing and
disrupt its proceeds;
(12) recommendations about ways in which interdisciplinary
collaboration across Federal agencies could be incentivized to
maximize information and analysis from investigations into
other types of trafficking and which may benefit from the
information and analysis gleaned from wildlife trafficking
investigations;
(13) an examination of how data collection, collaboration,
analysis, and technology tools, including artificial
intelligence and machine learning might be leveraged to combat
wildlife trafficking and its proceeds;
(14) a recommendation of whether Congress should renew the
wildlife trafficking task force authorized in the END Act and
sunsetting in December 2021; and
(15) an examination of how anti-corruption activities and
practices could be included in existing Federal and
international wildlife trafficking prevention and enforcement
efforts.
(e) Classification of Report.--The report required under subsection
(a) may be submitted in classified form but shall have an unclassified
annex or executive summary.
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