Good afternoon. Thank you for being here today for thisimportant announcement.
With me are Ray Kelly, Under Secretary for Enforcement, SamBanks, Deputy Commissioner of the Customs Service, Stan Morris,Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and EdFederico, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Internal RevenueService-Criminal Investigation Division.
As most of you know, one of the core elements of the TreasuryDepartment's law enforcement mission is the prevention anddetection of money laundering.
Money laundering is the process that enables drug and guntraffickers and terrorist groups to convert illegal and unusableproceeds into usable funds. It is "life blood" oforganized crime.
But is also the "Achilles heel," as it gives us away to attack the leaders of criminal organizations. While thedrug kingpins and other bosses of organized crime may be able toseparate themselves from street-level criminal activity, theycannot separate themselves from the profits of that activity.
Treasury is continuously working to develop new and innovativetechniques to close off the channels the launderers use to movetheir funds into the economy, to put the launderers themselvesbehind bars, and to seize their assets.
One of the most effective techniques that we have employedrecently has been a Geographic Targeting Order, or"GTO," which required certain businesses that wiremoney to report all wire transfers to Colombia in excess of $750.The evidence showed that these businesses were being used to wireas much as $800 million in drug profits to Colombia.
I will let Ray Kelly give you the details of this enormouslysuccessful initiative. I'll only point out that since it was putin effect, the flow of drug money through these businesses toColombia has virtually dried up. Some operations have been shutdown. Arrests have been made. And millions in drug profits havebeen seized.
Some months ago, I visited the headquarters of Treasury'sOperation El Dorado in New York, which is spearheading the GTOinitiative. In discussions with the leaders of this operation, Iwas extremely impressed both with the strategy, and the level ofcooperation among the Customs Service, FinCEN, the IRS, the NYPD,the U.S. Attorney's Office and the other authorities involved.
Today, at the urging of President Clinton, we will take stepsto make the New York GTO apply nationwide. And we will beextending the reach of our anti-money laundering efforts to otherbusinesses that could be at risk.
Let me stress that the overwhelming majority of thesebusinesses are engaged in legitimate, and valuable, commercialactivity. Indeed, the industry has been extremely supportive ofour work. The new rules are only intended to make life difficultfor the money launderers and their accomplices.
Now, I will give the floor to Ray Kelly, who will discussthese new measures and respond to your questions.