OTTAWA—On October 24 and 25, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) joined the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) of Canada in co-hosting the first FinCEN-FINTRAC Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Terrorist Financing Symposium (Symposium). The Symposium, held in Ottawa, Canada, brought together financial intelligence units (FIUs) and law enforcement agencies from Canada, the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, as well as U.S.- and Canada-based financial institutions, to discuss a variety of money laundering and terrorist financing issues. The Symposium included presentations on the emerging trends, typologies, and case studies on Iran-backed terrorist financing, Russian sanctions evasion, online child sexual exploitation, synthetic opioid trafficking, human trafficking, and the illegal wildlife trade.
As highlighted by FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki during the Symposium, the close collaboration between Canada and the United States was recently exemplified by a joint U.S.-Canada sanctions designation on October 15, against the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization. The action, which was enabled in part by key data from FinCEN and FINTRAC, illustrates the power of reporting by financial institutions and the sharing of that information between governments.
In the spirit of collaboration, Director Gacki also announced during the Symposium that FinCEN has joined three Canadian-led public-private partnerships: Projects Anton, Guardian, and Shadow, which aim to combat the illicit financing associated with illegal wildlife trade, illicit fentanyl, and online child sexual exploitation, respectively. This follows the February announcement that FinCEN joined Project Protect, Canada’s public-private partnership on human trafficking.
Public-private partnerships and international working groups are key to fostering productive discussions on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing regulatory approaches, as well as details on criminal schemes and typologies. FinCEN’s commitment to public-private partnerships and FIU working groups, such as the North American Drug Dialogue Illicit Finance Working Group, the Counter Terrorist Financing Taskforce – Israel, and the Russia-Related Illicit Finance and Sanctions FIU Working Group, further demonstrate FinCEN’s ongoing efforts to combat the threats covered in the two-day Symposium. The Symposium followed FinCEN’s participation in the fourth Global Financial Institutions Partnership Summit (Summit) hosted by member countries of Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement and the Canada Revenue Agency on October 22 and 23. Financial institutions, FIUs, and law enforcement gathered at the Summit to discuss effective practices in combating tax and financial crime.
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