Event Marks Culmination of Year-Long, Nationwide Public-Private Effort to Deepen Collaboration in the Fight Against Illicit Opioids
Event Marks Culmination of Year-Long, Nationwide Public-Private Effort to Deepen Collaboration in the Fight Against Illicit Opioids
VIENNA, Va.—This week, 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 final planned event of its year-long Promoting Regional Outreach to Educate Communities on the Threat of Fentanyl (PROTECT) series of the FinCEN Exchange program.
The two-day event brought together public and private sector representatives from the Washington, D.C. area to deepen collaboration against the trafficking of illicit fentanyl. Public and private sector representatives from across the region discussed emerging trends and typologies associated with fentanyl-related money laundering in the region, accomplishments resulting from the Exchange series, and ideas for future collaboration. Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith, FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki, CI Deputy Chief Shea Jones, U.S. Justice Department Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Nicole M. Argentieri, and senior leaders from U.S. law enforcement agencies and financial institutions attended.
“Just a year ago, when Treasury announced the launch of a Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force, we made a promise to Americans that we would use every tool at our disposal to disrupt the ability of drug traffickers to exploit our financial system to poison our country,” said Acting Under Secretary Smith. “Treasury’s information sharing exchanges across the country this year, along with our other tools, serve as a testament to our commitment to dismantling these drug networks and disrupting their enablers.”
“With the tenth and final PROTECT event today, this effort has reached a critical milestone at a pace that is congruent to the urgency of the problem,” said IRS-CI Chief Guy Ficco. “By merging the resources, expertise, and intelligence across federal, state, and local law enforcement with the vast footprint of regional and local banks across the country, we have strengthened the collaboration and coordination to much more effectively strike the financial epicenter that underpins the illicit opioid trade.”
“Through the PROTECT series, FinCEN has reaffirmed the tremendous value of public-private partnerships,” said FinCEN Director Gacki. “Moving forward, we will build on this momentum by continuing robust collaboration with private industry, refining information sharing frameworks, and optimizing our strategic approach to disrupt criminal networks and safeguard the integrity of our financial system.”
FinCEN and IRS–CI launched this novel regional FinCEN Exchange series in May 2024 in Boston, MA. In eight months, FinCEN and IRS–CI have hosted PROTECT sessions in Tucson, AZ; Miami, FL; Portland, OR; Denver, CO; New York, NY; Charlotte, NC; El Paso, TX; Philadelphia, PA; and now, Washington, D.C. Going forward, FinCEN will look to expand its efforts to build robust public-private partnerships. Just last month, FinCEN announced its participation in a multi-sector national task force dedicated to the prevention of fraud and scams.
FinCEN continues to encourage financial institutions to carefully 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.
*****
The FinCEN Exchange Program 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.
###