HIDDEN TREASURES
An ICIJ Investigation
FinCEN Files
An ICIJ investigation reveals the role of global banks in industrial-scale money laundering – and the bloodshed and suffering that flow in its wake. Read more.
FINCEN FILES
FinCEN Files investigation named Pulitzer Prize finalist
The global exposé by ICIJ and BuzzFeed News revealed how a broken U.S.-led enforcement system allows banks to continue to profit from moving trillions in dirty money.
By Michael Hudson
Jun 11, 2021
FINCEN FILES
Global banks defy U.S. crackdowns by serving oligarchs, criminals and terrorists
By ICIJ
Sep 20, 2020
Data
FinCEN Files: Explore billions of dollars in suspicious transactions
By ICIJ
Sep 20, 2020
Accountability
The public knew he was crooked in 2009. Big banks helped him stash millions until 2017.
By Will Fitzgibbon
Nov 30, 2020
FINCEN FILES
The fastest way to send criminal cash: money transmitters
By Will Fitzgibbon
Oct 13, 2020
COLLABORATION
FinCEN Files stories from around the globe
By Jelena Cosic
Sep 25, 2020
PRIVATE BANKING
‘Wired to make money’: Barclays’ private bankers serve ultra-rich, as watchdogs sound alarms
By ICIJ
Sep 23, 2020
MONEY LAUNDERING
With Deutsche Bank’s help, an oligarch’s buying spree trails ruin across the US heartland
By Michael Sallah
Sep 22, 2020
Art
Mystery company ties accused temple raiders to art world elite
By Spencer Woodman
Sep 22, 2020
FinCEN Files
HSBC moved vast sums of dirty money after paying record laundering fine
By Spencer Woodman
Sep 21, 2020
Extractive industries
US Treasury Department abandoned major money laundering case against Dubai gold company
By Kyra Gurney
Sep 21, 2020
FinCEN Files
How banks helped Venezuela’s ‘boligarchs’ extract billions
By Sasha Chavkin
Sep 21, 2020
ANONYMOUS COMPANIES
Inside scandal-rocked Danske Estonia and the shell-company ‘factories’ that served it
By Simon Bowers
Sep 21, 2020
- Global banks moved more than $2 trillion between 1999 and 2017 in payments they believed were suspicious, and flagged bank clients in more than 170 countries who were identified as being involved in potentially illicit transactions. The figures include $514 billion at JPMorgan Chase and $1.3 trillion at Deutsche Bank.
- The FinCEN Files show that five global banks — JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon — moved illicit cash for shadowy characters and criminal networks even after U.S. authorities fined these financial institutions for earlier failures to stem flows of dirty money.
- In half of the FinCEN Files reports, banks didn’t have information about one or more entities behind the transactions.
- Years after concerns first emerged, banks continued to move money for fraudsters, drug dealers and allegedly corrupt officials, leading to cases of real harm.
How money is laundered through New York banks
By filing suspicious activity reports to regulators, big banks in the U.S. can collect transfer fees on suspicious transactions. Failure to file a SAR can expose banks to fines or penalties.
Read the investigation
Learn about the Fincen Files investigation data, major findings and more.
Explore the original investigative stories at the heart of the investigation.
ICIJ is dedicated to ensuring all reports we publish are accurate. If you believe you have found an inaccuracy let us know.