WASHINGTON— In a ceremony held at the U.S. Department of the Treasury today, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recognized the outstanding efforts of law enforcement agencies that successfully used Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) reporting in their criminal investigations. The BSA’s recordkeeping and reporting requirements help to create a financial trail that law enforcement agencies use to track criminals, their activities, and their assets.

WASHINGTON—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory today to U.S. financial institutions to highlight the connection between corrupt senior foreign political figures and their enabling of human rights abuses. The use of financial facilitators is one way that corrupt senior foreign political figures access the U.S. and international financial systems to move or hide illicit proceeds and evade U.S. and global sanctions.

WASHINGTON—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today announced the issuance of revised Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in all-cash purchases of residential real estate. The purchase amount threshold, which previously varied by city, is now set at $300,000 for each covered metropolitan area. FinCEN is also requiring that covered purchases using virtual currencies be reported.