By Rose Farley

To punish Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Task Force KleptoCapture was set up to freeze hidden assets of Russian oligarchs that are stashed in financial institutions in this country. After 9/11, the Patriot Act set rules in place to combat terrorist financing by better knowing the "customer". This was hailed as winning against money laundering. However six months later, Bush exempted the real estate industry, equity and hedge funds from these rules.

In 2010, Congress passed the Foreign Account Act that requires overseas banks to furnish information on US clients to the IRS. Even though we demand information from other countries, we have refused to share information on foreign holdings in our banks. This created "tax havens" for foreigners with South Dakota leading the way. Congress in January 2021 passed the Corporate Transparency Act which banned anonymous shell companies by requiring U.S. companies to reveal their beneficiary.

About 2 million illegal bank activities are reported yearly to the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and must be handled by only 300 employees. Canada and Australia with similar files have many more employees. So most of the US cases are never fully investigated!

Money laundering can threaten a country's financial stability and sovereignty. Adverse effects to law and order can spill across borders and have adverse global repercussions. Weak or open borders are especially attractive for money launderers and financiers of terrorism.

The U.N. office on Drugs and Crime states that money laundering accounts for over $2 trillion annually (5% of the world's GDP). Today's best method to clean "dirty" money is investing in real estate or cryptocurrencies which are more difficult to trace. In 2020, the U.S.State Department identified the Chinese involved in new money-laundering methods: [1]. cross-border telecommunication fraud [2}. illegal fundraising activity [3] Illegal weapons linked with North Korea and [4]. corruptions in the banking and transportation sector. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sets up "shell" companies in the United States to hide this money.

If we don't get a better handle on money laundering, our country will be destroyed. Many times banks are acquired through buy-outs and their computers systems are patch together. This disparity of systems can hinder anti-fraud efforts, preventing various branches from effectively communicating with each other. More communication between financial institutions , stricter laws on anti-fraud, tighter controlled borders, and more open communication between the U.S and other nations can help solve these issues.