WASHINGTON
– Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Co-Chairman of the Senate Caucus on International
Narcotics Control, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Chairman of the
caucus, today released a bipartisan report entitled: Strengthening U.S. Efforts to Attack the Financial Networks of Cartels.
The report offers recommendations for Congress and the Biden administration to
reduce the supply of illicit drugs by closing loopholes in the U.S. anti-money
laundering (AML) framework that enable narcotics traffickers to obscure and
access their illicit proceeds.
“Drug
cartels are exploiting our borders to flood the nation with deadly drugs, and
they’re reaping huge profits on the pain and suffering they inflict. Our report
examines how the federal government can better target and dismantle the flow of
their ill-gotten gains. Reducing the financial incentive for drug traffickers
to operate in the United States is an important step in our effort to crack
down on the illicit drug epidemic and fight addiction. As the report
highlights, a key component in that fight is enacting the Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act
of 2022 that Senator Whitehouse and I sponsored,” Grassley said.
“Drug
traffickers exploit weaknesses in our laws to run multi-billion dollar criminal
enterprises that have caused hundreds of thousands of American drug overdose
deaths and immense pain in Rhode Island and across the nation. Our report
outlines necessary reforms to crack down on the financial trickery that cartels
and other criminals engage in. When implemented, these reforms will reduce the
supply of illicit narcotics by better enabling the U.S. to attack the
sophisticated financial networks that allow drug cartels to thrive,” Whitehouse said.
Senate
Caucus on International Narcotics Control members Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.),
Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and James Risch (R-Idaho) have
also endorsed the report, which includes the following recommendations:
- Help
partner nations strengthen their institutions to better defend against
corruption and implement justice sector reforms;
- Better
track whole-of-government efforts to combat narcotics-related illicit
finance;
- Deploy
experts in narcotics-related illicit finance to assist partner nations;
- Authorize
innovative and effective programs to combat international money laundering,
such as Trade Transparency Units;
- Use
regulatory authorities to close loopholes in the U.S. AML framework, including
by: ensuring greater transparency in the cross-border transportation of stored
value or prepaid access devices, and fully implementing the beneficial
ownership requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act;
- Aggressively
investigate, prosecute, and pursue the maximum allowable criminal penalties for
culpable banks, employees, and executives who fail to timely report suspicious
transactions; and
- Address
vulnerabilities in the AML framework by swiftly enacting the Combating Money
Laundering, Terrorist Finance, and Counterfeiting Act.
The
Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control has a long history of working
on a bipartisan basis to crack down on illicit drug trafficking globally, while
expanding addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services at home.
A
full PDF version of the report can be found HERE.