CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in partnership with Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (CI), held the seventh of ten planned events in 2024 as part of its Promoting Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl (PROTECT) series of the FinCEN Exchange program, first announced in May. The event brought together representatives from the public and private sectors in the Charlotte, North Carolina area to discuss ways to deepen collaboration against the illicit trafficking of fentanyl into the United States. To date, FinCEN and CI have co-hosted PROTECT events in Boston, MA; Tucson, AZ; Miami, FL; Portland, OR; Denver, CO; and New York, NY.
During today’s PROTECT session, financial institutions briefed on the emerging trends and typologies they are observing regarding fentanyl-related money laundering, Federal law enforcement shared relevant case studies, and FinCEN presented on bulk cash repatriation and trade-based money laundering associated with fentanyl flows. The event concluded with two panel discussions among participants regarding tips for drafting effective Suspicious Activity Reports and ways to further increase communication about emerging threats and to enhance feedback regarding the value of Bank Secrecy Act reporting. FinCEN encourages financial institutions to review its August 2019 and June 2024 advisories on the trafficking of fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and other synthetic opioids and the precursor chemicals and associated manufacturing equipment needed to synthesize these deadly drugs.
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FinCEN Exchange is a voluntary public-private partnership that convenes relevant stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. FinCEN Exchange aims to protect our national security and our citizens from harm by combatting money laundering and its related crimes, including terrorism, through public-private dialogue that encourages, enables, and acknowledges industry focus on high-value and high-impact activities. FinCEN Exchange began in 2017 and was codified as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020.
“Promoting Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl” (or PROTECT) is a series of ten FinCEN Exchange sessions held in 2024 in U.S. cities highly impacted by the opioid epidemic as part of the Treasury Department’s Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force, which is in partnership with IRS Criminal Investigation. The series is specifically designed to work with regional and local financial institutions that are deeply connected to their communities and offer unique perspectives on the opioid crisis. This series of FinCEN Exchanges focuses on how law enforcement can best support efforts by financial institutions to monitor activity that may be tied to the illicit trafficking of fentanyl. At these exchanges, Federal officials brief on information critical to tracking these illicit financial flows, including typologies and red-flag indicators of fentanyl-related activity, and discuss what types of information are particularly valuable when financial institutions report suspicious activity. The PROTECT series was launched in collaboration with other government partners, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, various U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and local law enforcement agencies.
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