On April 22, 2023, coinciding with the Earth Day celebration, FinCEN issued a press release to remind financial institutions to remain vigilant in identifying and reporting suspicious activity related to environmental crimes. According to FinCEN, environmental crimes frequently involve transnational criminal activity related to several of FinCEN’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Priorities, including corruption, fraud, human trafficking, and drug trafficking.
FinCEN has previously published resources to help stakeholders identify and combat environmental crimes and associated illicit financial activity. These resources include the following:
A FinCEN Notice which provides specific Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filing instructions and highlights illicit financial activity related to several types of environmental crimes such as wildlife trafficking and illegal logging, fishing, or mining.
Read FinCEN’s press release here.