3 ms·
> The leak focuses on more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with the US government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). I think
by mabbo 6y ago
> The leak focuses on more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with the US government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
I think it's important to get the right mindset on what these are before we cry foul.
All banks will report 'large' transactions to their country's Financial Intelligence bureau. In the US, that's FINCEN. In Canada, that's FINTRAC, where I interned way back in 2006. Here, that means for all transactions over $10,000 CAD (or if the sum of transactions from an account within 24 hours exceeds $10,000), a report is filed, and FINTRAC keeps the report for 5 years while they look for signs of money laundering or terrorist financing. They data mine this to find patterns that indicate criminal activity. In 2006, while I was an intern, the Montreal mafia was brought down this way.
Suspicious Activity Reports, SARs are just what they sound like- the banker says 'something smells funny about this'. They want to let someone know about it. For example, let's say there's a particular person who moves $9,999 every day from his account to another one. That's under the $10,000 reporting limit but the bank can say "That's a bit weird, let's report it with an SAR". They can provide more details of why they're concerned.
The banks aren't the police. They don't know a crime has taken place. That person moving $9,999 every day could be doing something not criminal at all. And it's not the banks place to stop them- because that is just ripe for abuse. "Hey, I think all people of <race> are suspicious, so anytime they move $1000 or more, I file an SAR and close their accounts". Or "Hey, that guy is part of <political organization which I don't agree with>, so I flag all his transactions with SARs".
In this case, there are SARs leaked related to some large transactions involving suspicious circumstances. That doesn't mean there's a crime! But it does mean that someone raised an eyebrow and flagged something so that it could be followed up on by the right government authorities.
It's up to the US FINCEN to decide if a crime took place and to handle it accordingly. You decide if you trust them or not, but that is their role in this.
(Do I think Paul Manafort is innocent? That is a whole different question.)
- ericd 6y agoSo anyone who's ever bought a house in the US or Canada has had an SAR about them?
- ceejayoz 6y agoIf you did it with a suitcase full of cash, probably.
- mabbo 6y agoNo, this is applicable to all transactions the bank knows about. If money enters or leaves a bank account in a quantity greater than $10k within 24 hours, a report is filed with every detail they know about you and about the transactions. This has been law for more than 20 years. And it's made money laundering really, really hard.
- ceejayoz 6y agoYou're mixing up different kinds of reports. CTRs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_transaction_report https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_transaction_report) are not SARs. You can have a large transaction that isn't deemed suspicious by your bank. You can have a tiny transaction that is deemed suspicious by your bank, too. CTR = "big transaction". SAR = "suspicious transaction". Often related; not identical.
- mabbo 6y agoYes, that is what I'm trying to say.
- ericd 6y agoWiring just feels so anticlimactic in comparison.
- mabbo 6y agoNo, not a SAR. A Large Transaction Report. A SAR is if it's suspicious. If you ever move $10,000 into our out of your bank account, a report is filed with your country's FinInt agency. Every time. It has whatever ID numbers you gave when you opened the bank account, everything else they know about you, and where the money moved from and to. In Canada (and maybe the US as well?), this also includes large cash transactions with currency converters, casinos, and jewelry stores- because people kept finding new tricks for moving around money. Edit: And this is why leaking these things is super serious! There's a lot of personal information in them!
- luckylion 6y agoIf "more than 2000" SARs are totaling $2tn, I don't think there's a lot of "Grandma Jones got a new bed and finally decided to trust the bank with her $11k secret savings". > It's up to the US FINCEN to decide if a crime took place and to handle it accordingly. You decide if you trust them or not, but that is their role in this. Who watches the watchmen?
- ceejayoz 6y ago> Who watches the watchmen? The US Attorney, who'd receive the information and decide whether or not to prosecute, and the juries/courts involved in that prosecution. Plus, the typical regulatory loop of Congress, courts, etc. involved in the all of the Department of the Treasury's doings.
- mabbo 6y agoThe same can be said for the CIA, FBI, Justice Department, etc. If you have a good suggestion for how one can trust their government to have secrets, but also not do bad things, please share it.
- luckylion 6y agoThe best I can come up with is having the press being their opposition that pokes and prods and calls them out when they see wrong being done. That's what this is, essentially. For maximum harm, you could simple release to the public and spread propaganda. For critical evaluation, leaking to the press is quite normal, I believe.