Grassley, Klobuchar team up on money laundering legislation

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, have reintroduced the Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Finance and Counterfeiting Act to enhance criminal money laundering statutes. 

The legislation is endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, the National Association of Police Organizations and the National District Attorneys Association. 

Specifically, the legislation would: 

• Update counterfeiting laws to prohibit state-of-the-art counterfeiting methods; 

• Increase penalties for bulk cash smuggling;  

• Ensure money laundering laws apply to informal value transfer systems used by drug traffickers and terrorists; 

• Prohibit the cross-border shipment of blank checks for the purpose of evading reporting requirements;  

• Establish a new money laundering violation that prohibits the transfer of funds into or out of the United States with the intent to violate U.S. income tax laws;  

• Prohibit conspiracies to create illegal money services businesses;  

• Grant wiretapping authority to investigate currency reporting, bulk cash smuggling, illegal money services businesses and counterfeiting offenses;  

• Grant the U.S. Secret Service the explicit authority to investigate ransomware crimes and other uses of unlicensed money transmitting; and  

• Update the Federal Deposit Insurance Act’s recordkeeping requirements to ensure compliance by financial institutions.

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