Editor’s Note: Below is an excerpt from FinCEN’s 314(a) Fact Sheet
From: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network/Department of the Treasury
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) provides a unique service to law enforcement to help locate financial assets and recent transactions by subjects of criminal investigations.
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FinCEN’s regulations under Section 314(a) enable federal, state, local, and foreign (European Union) law enforcement agencies, through FinCEN, to reach out to more than 43,000 points of contact at more than 22,000 financial institutions to locate accounts and transactions of persons that may be involved in terrorism or money laundering.
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To date, the 314(a) process already has proved to be successful, as illustrated below. Results have yielded productive leads for both terrorist financing and money laundering investigations. The immediate matches have, for example, led to the identification of new accounts, transactions, indictments, etc. and enabled law enforcement to efficiently direct its use of legal processes to promptly obtain critical evidence in numerous cases. Examples of 314(a) requests, based on money laundering, include:
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Hawala operation involving a sanctioned country
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Arms trafficking
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Alien smuggling resulting in fatalities
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Cigarette smuggling
