In ’23 annual review, FinCEN shows how money-laundering reports linked to 15% of crime investigations

More than 15% of active FBI investigations in fiscal year (FY) 2023 were linked to anti-money laundering tools such as currency transaction reports (CTRs) and suspicious activity reports (SARs), the Treasury Department’s financial crimes enforcement arm said Friday.

In the “Year in Review” for the last fiscal year, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said 26,635 CTRs were involved in various crime enforcement areas, including international terrorism, organized crime drugs, public corruption and international organized crime.

The agency said 21,927 SARs were involved in the same or similar areas.

All told, FinCEN reported, about 15.4% of active FBI investigations were “directly linked” to SARs and CTRs. Breaking those down into subject areas, the agency reported CTRs and SARs were directly linked to:

  • 36.9% of organized crime drug enforcement investigations.
  • 33.8% of complex financial crime investigations.
  • 22.1% of transnational organized crime investigations.
  • 27.6% of public corruption investigations.
  • 14.8% of international terrorism investigations.

Overall in FY 2023, FinCEN reported about 20.8 million CTRs were filed (averaging 57,000 daily) and 4.6 million SARs (12,600 daily).

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Year in Review for FY 2023