[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3876 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3876
To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of
the Treasury to place prohibitions or conditions on certain
transmittals of funds in connection with jurisdictions, financial
institutions, international transactions, or types of accounts of
primary money laundering concern.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 17, 2022
Mr. Warner introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of
the Treasury to place prohibitions or conditions on certain
transmittals of funds in connection with jurisdictions, financial
institutions, international transactions, or types of accounts of
primary money laundering concern.
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 ``Special Measures to Fight Modern
Threats Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (in this
section referred to as ``FinCEN'') is the financial
intelligence unit of the United States tasked with safeguarding
the financial system from illicit use, combating money
laundering and its related crimes, including terrorism, and
promoting national security.
(2) Under law, FinCEN may require domestic financial
institutions and financial agencies to take certain ``special
measures'' against jurisdictions, institutions, classes of
transactions, or types of accounts determined to be of primary
money laundering concern, providing the Secretary with a range
of options, such as enhanced record-keeping, that can be
adapted to target specific money laundering and terrorist
financing and to bring pressure on those that pose money
laundering threats.
(3) This special-measures authority was granted in 2001,
when most cross-border transactions occurred through
correspondent or payable-through accounts held with large
financial institutions that serve as intermediaries to
facilitate financial transactions on behalf of other banks.
(4) Innovations in financial services have transformed and
expanded methods of cross-border transactions that could not
have been envisioned 20 years ago when FinCEN was given its
special-measures authority.
(5) These innovations, particularly through digital assets
and informal value transfer systems, while useful to legitimate
consumers and law enforcement, can be tools abused by bad
actors like sanctions evaders, fraudsters, money launderers,
and those who commit ransomware attacks on victimized United
States companies and that abuse the financial system to move
and obscure the proceeds of their crimes.
(6) Ransomware attacks on United States companies requiring
payments in cryptocurrencies have increased in recent years,
with the Treasury estimating that ransomware payments in the
United States reached $590,000,000 in just the first half of
2021, compared to a total of $416,000,000 in 2020.
(7) In July 2021, the White House, with support of United
States allies, asserted that the People's Republic of China was
responsible for ransomware operations against private companies
that included demands of millions of dollars, including the
2021 ransomware attacks that breached Microsoft email systems
and affected thousands of consumers, State and local
municipalities, and government contractors attributed to a
cyber espionage group with links to the Ministry of State
Security of the People's Republic of China.
(8) As ransomware attacks organized by Chinese and other
foreign bad actors continue to grow in size and scope,
modernizing the special-measure authorities of FinCEN will
empower FinCEN to adapt its existing tools, monitor and
obstruct global financial threats, and meet the challenges of
combating 21st century financial crime.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS OR CONDITIONS ON CERTAIN TRANSMITTALS OF FUNDS.
Section 5318A of title 31, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(2)(C), by striking ``subsection
(b)(5)'' and inserting ``paragraphs (5) and (6) of subsection
(b)''; and
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ``for or on
behalf of a foreign banking institution''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(6) Prohibitions or conditions on certain transmittals of
funds.--If the Secretary finds a jurisdiction outside of the
United States, 1 or more financial institutions operating
outside of the United States, 1 or more types of accounts
within, or involving, a jurisdiction outside of the United
States, or 1 or more classes of transactions within, or
involving, a jurisdiction outside of the United States to be of
primary money laundering concern, the Secretary, in
consultation with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General,
and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System, may prohibit, or impose conditions upon,
certain transmittals of funds (as such term may be defined by
the Secretary in a special measure issuance, by regulation, or
as otherwise permitted by law), to or from any domestic
financial institution or domestic financial agency if such
transmittal of funds involves any such jurisdiction,
institution, type of account, or class of transaction.''.
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