On 11/16/21, FinCEN held a virtual FinCEN Exchange focused on identifying and combatting illicit financial flows associated with environmental crimes and related money laundering. Representatives from financial institutions, law enforcement, and Federal government agencies attended the session. Topics discussed in the Exchange included:
illicit financial flows related to wildlife trafficking,
illegal logging,
illegal fishing,
illegal mining, and
waste and hazardous substances trafficking,
The Exchange also discussed possible solutions for better understanding the related illicit financial flows.
In their release, FinCEN explains that it is focusing on environmental crimes because of an upward trend in these activities and their related financial flows; their strong association with two of FinCEN’s national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) priorities (i.e. corruption and transnational criminal organizations); and their contribution to the climate and biodiversity crises. FinCEN also explained that the Financial Action Task Force has estimated that global environmental crimes generate hundreds of billions in illicit proceeds annually. and that these crimes frequently and increasingly involve transnational organized crime and corruption such as money laundering, bribery, theft, forgery, tax evasion, fraud, human trafficking, and drug trafficking.
The FinCEN release can be found here.