FinCEN Files Reveal $2 Trillion in Suspicious Banking Transactions

| Importance: 9/10 | Status: confirmed

On September 20, 2020, BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published the FinCEN Files, exposing over $2 trillion in suspicious financial transactions between 1999 and 2017. The investigation, involving 2,657 leaked documents and 2,121 suspicious activity reports (SARs), revealed systematic failures in global anti-money laundering systems. Major banks like JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC consistently moved money for suspected criminals, corrupt officials, and fraudulent networks, treating these transactions as mere compliance paperwork rather than genuine financial crime prevention.

Key Actors

FinCEN BuzzFeed News International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Jason Leopold Deutsche Bank HSBC JPMorgan Chase Standard Chartered Bank Bank of New York Mellon Jeffrey Epstein Najib Razak Jho Low

Tags

money-laundering banking financial-crime regulatory-failure suspicious-transactions fincen corruption global-financial-networks investigative-journalism

Sources (3)

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