FinCEN highlights seven BSA-driven cases in law enforcement awards

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FinCEN BSA law enforcement awards

Highlights

FinCEN recognizes seven cases leveraging Bank Secrecy Act data, leading to 96 convictions, $1.1 billion seized, and $347 million restitution.
The 2024 program sets records with 42 case nominations from 39 agencies analyzing over 16,000 BSA reports filed by more than 1,400 financial institutions.
Highlighted cases include TD Bank and its parent pleading guilty in October 2024, agreeing to over $1.8 billion in penalties amid a $3.1 billion coordinated resolution.

Awards program underscores BSA enforcement results

As announced by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, this year’s awards program recognizes seven cases in which Bank Secrecy Act data helps law enforcement and prosecutors pursue criminal investigations and protect the U.S. financial system. FinCEN says it receives 42 case nominations from 39 separate agencies for the latest program cycle.

The nominated matters involve analysis of more than 16,000 BSA reports filed by over 1,400 financial institutions, the highest totals in the awards program’s history. FinCEN says those cases result in 96 convictions, $1.1 billion seized and $347 million in restitution for victims.

FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki says the awards reflect the role that BSA information plays in identifying illicit finance and supporting recoveries for taxpayers, businesses and financial institutions. The agency also says it is working to strengthen feedback between law enforcement and banks through its advisory program, Financial Trend Analyses, the FinCEN Exchange Program and the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group.

Cases span banks, trafficking and cartel finance

The seven recognized cases cover fraud, human trafficking and smuggling, drug trafficking organization activity, transnational criminal organization activity, cartel finance, cybercrime and corruption. In one fraud case, investigators from multiple federal offices pursue a real estate scheme involving manipulated short sale prices that causes mortgage holders millions of dollars in losses, and a federal jury returns guilty verdicts on conspiracy, wire fraud and bank fraud charges.

In a trafficking-related case, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS-CI investigate Backpage.com, leading to a settlement under which $215 million in assets traceable to the forum’s profits will be forfeited to the United States for potential victim compensation. Another highlighted matter involves TD Bank and its parent company, which plead guilty in October 2024 and agree to pay more than $1.8 billion in penalties in a Justice Department investigation into BSA violations and money laundering, part of a broader coordinated resolution totaling almost $3.1 billion.

FinCEN also points to a Homeland Security Investigations case in which a casino agrees to forfeit more than $130 million, a DEA investigation into cartel-linked oil and gas smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border, an FBI sextortion and money laundering case involving about $6.9 million in attempted extortion, and a USPIS corruption case tied to more than 700 stolen checks with a face value above $5 million. The agency says summaries of all nominated cases are expected to be posted to its website in the coming weeks.

Our earlier coverage of Geoffrey K. Auyeung’s money-laundering sentencing detailed how alleged fraud proceeds from purported oil-storage investments were routed through dozens of bank accounts and multiple cryptocurrency exchanges to obscure the trail. The case ended with a five-year federal prison term and orders to forfeit millions in cash and crypto, illustrating how financial-account activity can be traced and turned into enforcement outcomes.

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