In 2022, Congress passed the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Whistleblower Improvement Act in December 2022. The law establishes a whistleblower award program for individuals who report money laundering and sanctions violations and is the most important anti-corruption law passed in decades.
Money laundering is intimately tied to corruption around the globe. Because the AML Whistleblower Program has a transnational reach, violations can occur anywhere and whistleblowers do not need to be U.S. citizens to qualify for awards, it is uniquely positioned to help U.S. authorities tackle corruption overseas, including the most pressing national security crises like the war between Hamas and Israel, the war between Russia and Ukraine, terrorist financing, and drug trafficking. It is vital that FinCEN implement its whistleblower program quickly and that its regulations fulfill the mandate in the U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption.
However, despite the urgent nature of this issue, the U.S. Treasury Department and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have yet to implement the AML Whistleblower program, nor regulations for the AML Whistleblower Improvement Act.
Contact your legislators and urge them to please DEMAND that FinCEN consider the following in order to maximize the law’s anti-corruption potential:
I. Ensure that the process for qualifying as a whistleblower aligns with U.S. anti-corruption priorities.
a. Allow whistleblowers identified in case investigations to be eligible for rewards, rather than by mandating technical form requirements for whistleblower reward eligibility.
b. Maintain the SEC’s “Three Conditions” for qualifying as a whistleblower, but expand the definition of “Voluntary” to its standard definition.
c. Ensure that critical whistleblowers have the right to make use of the AML Whistleblower Program.
II. Protect Whistleblowers.
a. Secure the Confidentiality & Anonymity of AML whistleblowers in ALL ongoing Federal investigations involving their disclosers.
b. Establish Consistent Inter-Agency Protocol with respect to Whistleblowers who have participated in crime.
c. Do not Incentivize – and absolutely do not require – Internal Reporting prior to filing AML claims with FinCEN, but ensure that those who file internally first maintain award eligibility.
III. Ensure that whistleblowers are fully compensated in a timely manner.
a. Give full force to related action provisions.
b. Do NOT place a cap on whistleblower rewards.
c. Establish and abide by a strict deadline for paying awards.
Please refer to the National Whistleblower Center’s (NWC) AML Regulations Webpage, whistleblowers.org/enact-aml-whistleblower-rules, for more information on our requests.
Recognized by the National Whistleblower Center (NWC), Tracie Burke is Louisiana author of Motion to Quash. She can be reached at tracie@motiontoquash.org. Motion to Quash LLC successfully promoted legislation that supports the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 and amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act. Please Support journalism in the public interest by contributing today. Click here to donate Motion to Quash ISSN 2644-1594 is the copyrighted property of Motion to Quash LLC 2019. NWC’s mission is to support whistleblowers in their efforts to expose and help prosecute corruption and other wrongdoing around the world.
