This bill strengthens federal laws against money laundering, terrorist financing, and counterfeiting. It increases penalties for bulk cash smuggling from 5 to 10 years in prison and doubles fines for aggravated cases, expands the definition of money laundering to cover informal value transfer systems like hawalas and commingled funds, and tightens regulations on unlicensed money services businesses with penalties up to 10 years for larger operations. The legislation also enhances law enforcement tools by restoring wiretap authority for certain money laundering offenses, clarifying Secret Service authority to investigate money laundering, and expanding counterfeiting prohibitions to cover equipment and materials used to forge currency. Additionally, it requires the Treasury Department to submit a comprehensive analysis within one year of how remittances are being exploited to finance terrorism, drug trafficking, and human trafficking, followed by a strategy and implementation plan every five years for a decade. The bill affects federal law enforcement agencies, money services businesses, and financial institutions while imposing no specific budget or staffing allocations beyond directing agencies to assess their needs.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.