

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

Dubai
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.
CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY

Jan 28, 2025
US company database remains on hold, despite Supreme Court decision
WHISTLEBLOWERS

Jun 03, 2024
Whistleblower accuses US of ignoring evidence Standard Chartered Bank served suspicious Iranian clients
Politics

May 20, 2024
New US Treasury strategy targets crypto scams and real estate money laundering
IMPACT

Jan 17, 2024
New US company ownership database faces continued political attacks weeks after launch
Learn about the Fincen Files investigation data, major findings and more.
