Safeguarding the Financial System from Terrorist Financing
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SAFEGUARDING THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM FROM TERRORIST FINANCING HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM AND ILLICIT FINANCE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 27, 2017 Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services Serial No. 115–18 ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 27–419 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:44 Jun 06, 2018 Jkt 027419 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 K:\DOCS\27419.TXT TERI HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES JEB HENSARLING, Texas, Chairman PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina, MAXINE WATERS, California, Ranking Vice Chairman Member PETER T. KING, New York CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California NYDIA M. VELA´ ZQUEZ, New York FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York BILL POSEY, Florida MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin DAVID SCOTT, Georgia STEVE STIVERS, Ohio AL GREEN, Texas RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri DENNIS A. ROSS, Florida GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota ANN WAGNER, Missouri ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado ANDY BARR, Kentucky JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut KEITH J. ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania BILL FOSTER, Illinois LUKE MESSER, Indiana DANIEL T. KILDEE, Michigan SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado JOHN K. DELANEY, Maryland ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona BRUCE POLIQUIN, Maine JOYCE BEATTY, Ohio MIA LOVE, Utah DENNY HECK, Washington FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JUAN VARGAS, California TOM EMMER, Minnesota JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey LEE M. ZELDIN, New York VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan CHARLIE CRIST, Florida BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia RUBEN KIHUEN, Nevada ALEXANDER X. MOONEY, West Virginia THOMAS MacARTHUR, New Jersey WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio TED BUDD, North Carolina DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York TREY HOLLINGSWORTH, Indiana KIRSTEN SUTTON MORK, Staff Director (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:44 Jun 06, 2018 Jkt 027419 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\27419.TXT TERI SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM AND ILLICIT FINANCE STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico Chairman ROBERT PITTENGER, North Carolina, Vice ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado, Ranking Chairman Member KEITH J. ROTHFUS, Pennsylvania CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York LUKE MESSER, Indiana JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado BILL FOSTER, Illinois ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas DANIEL T. KILDEE, Michigan BRUCE POLIQUIN, Maine JOHN K. DELANEY, Maryland MIA LOVE, Utah KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona FRENCH HILL, Arkansas JUAN VARGAS, California TOM EMMER, Minnesota JOSH GOTTHEIMER, New Jersey LEE M. ZELDIN, New York RUBEN KIHUEN, Nevada WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts TED BUDD, North Carolina DAVID KUSTOFF, Tennessee (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:44 Jun 06, 2018 Jkt 027419 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\27419.TXT TERI VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:44 Jun 06, 2018 Jkt 027419 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\27419.TXT TERI C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on: April 27, 2017 ................................................................................................... 1 Appendix: April 27, 2017 ................................................................................................... 31 WITNESSES THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017 El-Hindi, Jamal, Acting Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, U.S. Department of the Treasury ....................................................................... 4 APPENDIX Prepared statements: El-Hindi, Jamal ................................................................................................ 32 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Perlmutter, Hon. Ed: Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Guidance dated February 14, 2014, ‘‘BSA Expectations Regarding Mari- juana-Related Businesses’’ ........................................................................... 45 El-Hindi, Jamal: Written responses to questions for the record submitted by Representa- tives Pearce, Hill, Love, Messer, Pittenger, and Foster ............................ 52 (V) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:44 Jun 06, 2018 Jkt 027419 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\27419.TXT TERI VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:44 Jun 06, 2018 Jkt 027419 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 K:\DOCS\27419.TXT TERI SAFEGUARDING THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM FROM TERRORIST FINANCING Thursday, April 27, 2017 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM AND ILLICIT FINANCE, COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:23 p.m., in room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Stevan Pearce [chair- man of the subcommittee] presiding. Members present: Representatives Pearce, Pittenger, Rothfus, Tipton, Williams, Poliquin, Love, Hill, Emmer, Zeldin, Davidson, Budd, Kustoff; Perlmutter, Maloney, Himes, Foster, Kildee, Delaney, Sinema, Vargas, Gottheimer, Kihuen, and Lynch. Ex officio present: Representatives Hensarling and Waters. Also present: Representative Royce. Chairman PEARCE. The Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the subcommittee at any time. Also, without objection, members of the full Financial Services Committee who are not members of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance may participate in today’s hearing. Today’s hearing is entitled, ‘‘Safeguarding the Financial System from Terrorist Financing.’’ I now recognize myself for 5 minutes to give an opening state- ment. Today, most of us are very fortunate to have a more modern and secure means of storage for our hard-earned money. Unfortu- nately, so do terrorists, cartels, and other criminals around the world. In an ever-evolving world, this is the driving mission of our subcommittee: How can we continue to provide the safety and secu- rity in our markets that American families have come to expect while rooting out the bad actors in the system? What actions is our Nation taking to ensure markets for legitimate users? What in our current AML/CFT structure is working and what needs improve- ment? Today’s hearing is the first in a series this subcommittee will hold on the Bank Secrecy Act and the regulatory structure the United States has in place to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit financing activities. It is only fitting that the subcommittee begins its work by examining the role and the function of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, more com- (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:44 Jun 06, 2018 Jkt 027419 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 K:\DOCS\27419.TXT TERI 2 monly known as FinCEN, which was established in 1990 by the Secretary of the Treasury. FinCEN was upgraded to official bureau status in 2002 with the passage of the PATRIOT Act. The bureau is not only the primary regulator of the BSA, but it also acts as the United States’ financial intelligence units (FIUs). FinCEN’s mission is to safeguard the fi- nancial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dis- semination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities. From the most traditional forms of financial transactions to the ever-evolving world of financial technology, it is essential that our Nation has an efficient, effective, and modern set of rules and regu- lation to safeguard our Nation’s financial system. This hearing starts the conversation and ensures our subcommittee is taking pragmatic and complete look at the laws and regulations we cur- rently have in place. I thank our witnesses for being here today and I look forward to the conversations to come. With that, I will now recognize the ranking member of the sub- committee, the gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Perlmutter, for 5 minutes for an opening statement. Mr. PERLMUTTER. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hear- ing so our subcommittee can design policies to update, modernize, and strengthen the Bank Secrecy Act. FinCEN plays a critical role in safeguarding our Nation’s finan- cial system through the collection and analysis of suspicious activ- ity reports (SARs) and currency transaction reports (CTRs). In fact, FinCEN has collected over 200 million filings. The U.S. continues to be the financial capital of the world whereby essentially all pay- ments move through or touch the United States’ financial system. Therefore, the U.S. plays an important role in reducing the threat of terrorism and disrupting illicit and illegal financial flows. So it is important we evaluate how our current regulatory regime is functioning, what is lacking or needs updating, how we can better strike a balance between law enforcement and civil liberties, and how we can build in efficiencies without overburdening our finan- cial institutions. I want to thank Mr. El-Hindi for your testimony today. Chairman PEARCE. If you will hold here, let me yield one of my minutes to Mr. Pittenger, and then that gives us a second there to— Mr. PERLMUTTER. All right. I will yield. Chairman PEARCE. Mr. Pittenger is recognized for 1 minute. Mr. PITTENGER. Thank