Dozens of officials in the U.S. financial intelligence unit may be resigning this month as part of the bureau's plan to remodel itself.
When FinCEN restructured its reporting hierarchy, the bureau signaled a subtle but important shift for banks: some of the energy it had once spent toward improving compliance would now serve to penalize regulatory violators, says former Assistant Director for the Office of Compliance Tom Fleming.
The nation's financial intelligence unit will relocate dozens of employees from its current Virginia headquarters to Washington, D.C. as part of an effort to better integrate with other U.S. Treasury Department offices.
The U.S. Justice Department's top anti-money laundering enforcer will lead the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network beginning next month, the bureau said Monday.
The U.S. Treasury Department is considering hiring the country's top money laundering and asset forfeiture prosecutor to head the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, say sources with knowledge of departmental discussions.
James H. Freis, the director of the U.S. financial intelligence unit, was dismissed Thursday, ending a 5-year tenure that oversaw the drafting of the toughest anti-money laundering regulations since the passage of the U.S. Patriot Act.
The U.S. Treasury Department is weighing whether to shift at least some responsibility for drafting anti-money laundering regulations out of the hands of the nations financial intelligence unit, according to sources.
As an intermediary between Bank Secrecy Act departments that feel burdened by regulations and law enforcement investigators who welcome more reporting, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network often finds itself in a "difficult position," according to Director James Freis, Jr.