The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced in August the launch of its Global Investigations Division, responsible for targeted investigation strategies rooted in FinCEN’s authority under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Matthew Stiglitz, former Principal Deputy Chief in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, will lead GID.

According to FinCEN, the new division will investigate and target terrorist finance and money laundering threats and work more closely with foreign counterparts to coordinate actions against such threats when appropriate.

GID will employ FinCEN’s BSA authorities, which include Section 311 of the PATRIOT Act, to detect and deter a wide range of potential threats to our national security and financial system, including those that have a nexus to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, rogue state actors, transnational organized crime, international narcotics trafficking and terrorism.

FinCEN’s strategic use of its Section 311 authority as well as its other information collection authorities, such as the geographic targeting order and foreign financial agency regulation authorities, have greatly expanded in recent years.

The new division will build on the activities of former Office of Special Measures.

FinCEN also in August issued an advisory to alert financial institutions to financial schemes related to the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

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