On August 4, 2023, FinCEN announced that officials from FinCEN traveled to Mexico City to reinforce its continuing commitment to close collaboration with the Mexican government to combat illicit finance. On August 2, FinCEN hosted a cross-border roundtable on the shared priorities of combating fentanyl and other drug trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other predicate crimes. The dialogue was participated by U.S. and Mexican financial institutions, U.S. and Mexican regulators and financial intelligence units, and U.S. law enforcement.
FinCEN Acting Director Himamauli Das said the following in a statement:
“We believe that public-private exchanges have significant benefits in protecting U.S. and Mexican taxpayers and businesses. Exchanges between financial institutions and government agencies in both countries are critical to identifying and disrupting transnational fentanyl trafficking and human trafficking schemes, including Chinese money laundering networks. We hope that this exchange will provide a strong basis for continuing public-private collaboration that is operational and actionable for both the U.S. and Mexican government authorities.”
According to FinCEN’s press release, the roundtable allowed participants to exchange priorities and approaches to combat the misuse of the financial sector for drug trafficking and its precursors, among other crimes. Then, on August 3, Acting Director Das joined Elizabeth Rosenberg, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes (TFFC), at the annual United States-Mexico Strategic Dialogue on Illicit Finance. In this event, Government agencies shared new financial threat information on fentanyl precursor supply chains, human smuggling and trafficking, professional trade-based money laundering, and fraud, all of which enable illicit trafficking networks.
Read FinCEN’s press release here.