You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
Article content
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the nature of financial crime changes, with technology and AI increasingly used to perpetrate illegal acts, the IRS’ crime fighting arm _IRS Criminal Investigation_ is announcing a new program intended to improve how it interacts with financial institutions.
Article content
Article content
Called Feedback in Response to Strategic Threat _or CI-FIRST_ the program unveiled Friday is intended to speed up subpoena requests, give banks better data on how to detect criminal activity and build out investigations faster and more efficiently.
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O’Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.
Daily content from Financial Times, the world’s leading global business publication.
Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.
National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O’Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.
Daily content from Financial Times, the world’s leading global business publication.
Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.
National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.
REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Access articles from across Canada with one account.
Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
Enjoy additional articles per month.
Get email updates from your favourite authors.
THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Access articles from across Canada with one account
Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments
Enjoy additional articles per month
Get email updates from your favourite authors
Sign In or Create an Account
or
Article content
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks and financial institutions are required to send over a variety of suspicious activity reports to the federal government after detecting potential money laundering or terrorist financing.
The goal for CI-FIRST is to help financial institutions more easily detect and report financial crimes tied to fentanyl trafficking, drug trafficking, human smuggling and other crimes — by streamlining subpoena requests and improving data-sharing with banks. IRS-CI Chief Guy Ficco said in a statement that “public-private partnerships thrive when everyone mutually benefits.”
Also on Friday, IRS Criminal Investigation released new statistics highlighting how the agency has investigated financial crimes using Bank Secrecy Act data.
The agency found $21.1 billion in fraud tied to tax and financial crimes from 2022 to 2024, seized $8.2 billion in assets tied to criminal activity in the same period, and recouped $1.4 billion in restitution for crime victims, according to the agency.
Top Stories
Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.
By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
Thanks for signing up!
A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, please check your junk folder.
The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.
We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again
Article content
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“Behind all of these metrics are real crimes with real victims,” said Lauren Kohr, IRS-CI’s strategic engagement adviser. “A lot of times people look at BSA data or the Bank Secrecy Act as a regulatory requirement, but it’s really one of the sharpest tools law enforcement as a whole has to trace fraud illicit money and dismantle these criminal networks.”
“And when illicit money moves, it’s these BSA reports,” she said “that tell us the story.”
IRS-CI special agents ran an average of 966,900 searches annually against currency transaction reports. A currency transaction report, or CTR, is a financial document that banks are required to file with Treasury for any cash transaction exceeding $10,000 in a single day.
In the past three years, roughly 67% of cases opened by IRS-CI involved one or more currency transaction reports below $40,000, with half of currency transaction reports involving amounts less than $22,230.
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Despite the majority of reports coming in below $40,000, a group of Republican lawmakers is pursing raising the threshold.
Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk and nine other House Republicans have sponsored a bill called the Financial Reporting Threshold Modernization Act, which would raise the currency transaction reporting and Suspicious Activity Reporting thresholds to $30,000 and $10,000, respectively, and index the CTR threshold for inflation every five years.
On April 1, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions will hold a hearing on April 1 and the issue of CTR thresholds will come up.
Last December a Government Accountability Office report recommended Treasury help to “reduce the number of CTRs filed that are not used by law enforcement, such as by raising the reporting threshold or expanding criteria to allow for further exemptions.”
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
In addition to their financial crimes work, IRS Criminal Investigations has been called upon by the Trump administration to help with immigration enforcement.
Last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a request to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to borrow IRS Criminal Investigation workers to help with the immigration crackdown, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. It cites the IRS’s boost in funding, through the $80 billion infusion of funds the federal tax collection agency received under the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act has already been clawed back.