

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
Global banks defy U.S. crackdowns by serving oligarchs, criminals and terrorists
By ICIJ
September 20, 2020

Accountability
The public knew he was crooked in 2009. Big banks helped him stash millions until 2017.
By Will Fitzgibbon
November 30, 2020

FINCEN FILES
The fastest way to send criminal cash: money transmitters
By Will Fitzgibbon
October 13, 2020

COLLABORATION
FinCEN Files stories from around the globe
By Jelena Cosic
September 25, 2020

PRIVATE BANKING
‘Wired to make money’: Barclays’ private bankers serve ultra-rich, as watchdogs sound alarms
By ICIJ
September 23, 2020

MONEY LAUNDERING
With Deutsche Bank’s help, an oligarch’s buying spree trails ruin across the US heartland
By Michael Sallah
September 22, 2020

Art
Mystery company ties accused temple raiders to art world elite
By Spencer Woodman
September 22, 2020

FinCEN Files
HSBC moved vast sums of dirty money after paying record laundering fine
By Spencer Woodman
September 21, 2020

Extractive industries
US Treasury Department abandoned major money laundering case against Dubai gold company
By Kyra Gurney
September 21, 2020

FinCEN Files
How banks helped Venezuela’s ‘boligarchs’ extract billions
By Sasha Chavkin
September 21, 2020

ANONYMOUS COMPANIES
Inside scandal-rocked Danske Estonia and the shell-company ‘factories’ that served it
By Simon Bowers
September 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.
Accountability

Sep 26, 2023
Money-laundering criminals are adapting to new technology faster than authorities can keep up, EU report says
Oligarchs

Sep 07, 2023
Ukrainian oligarch sanctioned following the FinCEN Files investigation arrested in Ukraine
Accountability

Jul 20, 2023
New FinCEN head appointed as concerns grow over stalled US company registry
ACCOUNTABILITY

Apr 11, 2023
U.S. Treasury faces a wave of criticism over faltering push to unmask anonymous companies and track dirty money
FINCEN FILES

Feb 22, 2023
Proposed rule would render US company registry ‘effectively useless,’ bankers warn
IMPACT

Nov 16, 2022
US sanctions financial network and luxury planes linked to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov
Learn about the Fincen Files investigation data, major findings and more.
