"This bill will hit criminals where they will feel it the most ? in their pocketbooks," Grassley said. "A national strategy will protect people in hundreds of communities from bearing the brunt of criminal attempts to hide ill-gotten gains."
After having passed the House on the suspension calendar earlier this month, the Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Strategy Act today passed the Senate under unanimous consent. The bill will return to the House with the Senate's changes and is expected to gain final approval and head to the President before the 105th Congress adjourns.
The result of close, bipartisan work with Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), this act calls for the Secretary of the Treasury to create and submit a national strategy on how to best combat money laundering, Grassley said. Because of the complex and long-term nature of most money laundering cases, this act also makes available loans to state and local task forces that are working on these cases. These loans would be repaid at the completion of a case with the seizure of illicit drug profits whenever possible.
Grassley, chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, said money laundering has become a $500 billion problem worldwide. Drug dealers, terrorists, arms dealers and other criminals use the technique to disguise their financial assets to avoid detection of the criminal activity that produced them, he said.
The Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Strategy Act authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General and other relevant agencies, including state and local agencies, to coordinate and implement a national strategy to address money laundering. The strategy must include:
(1) Goals for reducing money laundering and related financial crimes;
(2) Goals for coordinating regulatory efforts to prevent the exploitation of financial systems in the United States through money laundering;
(3) Operational initiatives to improve the detection of money laundering as well as private sector initiatives and intergovernmental action designed to combat financial crimes; and
(4) Designation of certain areas as high-risk money laundering zones.
"A big part of the strategy advocated by this bill is to target problem areas," Grassley said. "The bill would require government officials to identify the specific criminal activity that affects the specific geographic areas, payment systems and financial institutions with the greatest potential to be abused by criminals."