That's not the only takeaway and the article and ICIJ are in the business of not providing any other takeaway. I used to work for a US Federal financial regula

That's not the only takeaway and the article and ICIJ are in the business of not providing any other takeaway. I used to work for a US Federal financial regulator. Suspicious Activity Reports are discriminatory and that is how they are used. From the in person bank teller to the compliance officer behind the scenes. ICIJ handpicked a few reports with "big numbers" that people could "get mad about" while providing no context about what should have happened. That’s their entire modus operandi. An alleged ponzi scheme that already settled with US authorities is not the same as a sanctions evading money mule. The expected outcome is not the same. What is the goal here? "Omg the bank filed a SAR and nothing happeneedddd 111!" What was supposed to happen? This is a pointless dragnet. 9/11 wasn't that expensive, 6 figures at best. The Bank Secrecy Act and the subsequent Patriot Act would not have flagged the terrorists' transactions. They prevent nothing. If HSBC was laundering billions for the literal cartel for a decade after 9/11 and nothing happened, then what does that tell you about people? Dangerous organizations aren’t trying to attack American soil. Maybe they just want to have a nice life at the end of the day. Stigmatizing transactions is supposed to make that observation feel uncomfortable, its still not the way to curb the actual behavior we want to stop. All we have is a massive data mining operation and another way to imprison unintended targets. These regulations only ensnare individuals who have "will the bank/government freeze my $10,000 dollars" money because of that individual's complete unfamiliarity with reality and segregation from financial literacy. The US should get out of the business of whitelisting transactions as it is expensive and a complete waste of public and private sector resources. Right now we have a mixture of the regulators being swamped, and the regulators using discretion that no politician can risk their career on.