NCJ Number
147358
Date Published
1993
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), a Treasury Department organization, was established to help other law enforcement agencies identify, investigate, and prosecute money laundering activities; a General Accounting Office (GAO) review of FINCEN operations indicates that the number of requests for intelligence data from FINCEN to support ongoing investigations has steadily increased since the network's inception in 1990.
Abstract
In fiscal year 1991, FINCEN's first full year of operation, 89 agencies made 2,335 requests for support. In the first 11 months of fiscal year 1993, 154 agencies made 4,100 requests for FINCEN support. FINCEN provides strategic intelligence analysis to identify emerging trends, patterns, and issues related to money laundering. Other major activities of FINCEN include tactical support, systems integration, and resource management. The network has authorized positions for 207 staff, including 84 intelligence analysts and 48 criminal investigators. FINCEN does not initiate or carry out any investigations on its own; rather, FINCEN analyzes data collected, maintained, and processed by other agencies. FINCEN formalizes agreements with other agencies to share information. The primary source of most financial intelligence information accessed and disseminated by FINCEN involves reports required by the Bank Secrecy Act. The FINCEN network has designed a computer system to identify suspicious financial transactions. A FINCEN organizational chart and data on FINCEN staffing and funding are appended. 6 tables and 4 figures