Financial Crime World

Treasury Cracks Down on Corruption: Bolstering Private Sector Efforts and Strengthening Global Anti-Corruption Initiatives

Treasury’s Intensified Efforts to Combat Corruption

Washington D.C., March 2023 - The U.S. Department of Treasury has stepped up its efforts to combat corruption, leveraging a range of tools and strategies to identify, disrupt, and report financial activity linked to corrupt practices.

Strengthening Private Sector Efforts

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has published numerous guidance materials, advisories, alerts, and analysis over the past two years to provide financial institutions with typologies and potential indicators to help them identify and address suspicious transactions related to corruption and kleptocracy. Notable FinCEN publications include:

  • Advisory on Kleptocracy and Foreign Public Corruption (April 2022)
  • Alert on Real Estate, Luxury Goods, and Other High-Value Assets Involving Russian Elites, Oligarchs, and their Family Members (March 2022)
  • Financial Trend Analysis on Trends in Bank Secrecy Act Data: Financial Activity by Russian Oligarchs in 2022 (December 2022)

The Treasury Department has designated more than 300 individuals and entities for corruption-related issues across over 30 countries, leveraging various sanctions authorities. These designations have targeted corrupt activity related to:

  • Bribery
  • Extortion
  • Abuse of office
  • Misuse of public funds for private gain

Global Anti-Corruption Efforts

The Treasury Department is also prioritizing the designation of financial facilitators and private enablers of public corruption, including through Global Magnitsky sanctions. Additionally, Treasury has:

  • Contributed to revisions on transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements
  • Enhanced international standards relating to countering corruption, money laundering, and illicit finance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
  • Encouraged FATF to enhance its focus on countering corruption, leading to three projects aimed at bolstering global anti-corruption efforts

Regional Engagements

The Treasury Department has increased its focus on corruption issues in bilateral and regional engagements, including:

  • Helping foreign countries identify and address deficiencies in their AML/CFT regimes
  • Sharing information on corruption typologies and trends
  • Promoting awareness of corruption risks
  • Bolstering cooperation on joint anti-corruption investigations and enforcement actions

Regional dialogues have centered around anti-corruption issues with foreign governments and the private sector, including:

  • Europe
  • Central America
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • The Caribbean