On April 23, 1986, the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Supervision, Regulation and Insurance will continue its hearings on proposals to protect against financial institutions becoming havens for tax evaders, drug traffickers and launderers of funds derived from criminal activity. As part of these hearings, the Subcommittee will conduct The Subcommittee would appreciate the Department's analysis of these various proposals, and it is requested that Mr. Stephen S. Trott, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, appear and testify before the Subcommittee to discuss these matters on April 23, 1986, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2128 Rayburn House Office Building. In addition to the bills mentioned above, there are four -2 The Subcommittee would appreciate any comments or opinions which the Department might have with respect to the aforementioned Titles that you believe would provide guidance to us in these matters. Please provide the Subcommittee with 175 copies of Mr. Trott's testimony no later than 24 hours in advance of his appearance. Please have your staff contact Earl F. Rieger, Counsel of the Full Committee staff, if there are any questions. The Subcommittee appreciates your appearance at our hearings on April 23. Your testimony is of great assistance in our review of the Bank Secrecy Act and other pertinent issues. There are several questions which the Subcommittee would like to have you answer and which will be submitted for the record. They are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 5. What is the justification for eliminating customer The Department has had some recent setbacks regarding The Department already has an arsenal of primary Under current regulations, the CTR filing duties are Why do you feel Treasury needs summons authority? -2 6. 7. 8. It is my understanding that the offense of money laundering created in the Administration's bill is not limited to cash transactions through financial institutions, but would cover any transaction involving the movement of funds that affects interstate commerce, whether or not it involves a financial institution, and which is conducted with the intent to facilitate any unlawful activity or with the knowledge or reckless disregard of the fact that the funds were derived from Illegal activity. (a) What is meant by "any unlawful activity"? (b) Is the standard "reckless disregard" an appropriate standard for criminal liability -- especially for this offense? (c) Does this extremely expansive definition give you pause to consider what ultimate effect such a sweeping criminal statute could have on protected constitutional rights and what effect such a statute would have on the rights of individual states to administer their criminal laws? As you know, the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 At present, there is a move to substantially amend RFPA because it is claimed by some that current law has created clear impediments to criminal law enforcement efforts. Has RFPA created clear impediments to criminal law enforcement efforts and, if so, please explain. In testimony before the Subcommittee, Mr. Richard Wassenaar, Assistant Commissioner, Criminal Investigation, IRS, testified that during 1985 the IRS recommended prosecution of 137 cases involving money laundering. How many of these recommendations were pursued by the Department of Justice? What is the current status of these cases? -3 9. The Banking Committee received a letter from Mr. ... Again, the Subcommittee is appreciative of your efforts in this area. Please submit your responses to the Subcommittee no later than May 23, 1986. Sincerely, Fernand J. St Germain |