Senate bill calls for national strategy to combat global financial networks used by criminal syndicates

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday would require President Trump to draft a national strategy to identify and disrupt global financial networks used by transnational criminal organizations to transfer an estimated $870 billion around the world.

Under the Criminal Organizations’ Narcotics, Finances, Resources, Operations and Networks Targeting (CONFRONT) Act, S. 2715, the president would work with federal agencies to target financial transactions related to criminal activities like opioid trade, drug dealing and identity theft. The bill was introduced by U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Angus King (I-ME), and Jon Tester (D-MT).

“Transnational criminal organizations are all about making an illegal buck — so much so that $870 billion of illicit capital flows through the global financial system each year,” Hatch said. “The spread of these organizations in human trafficking, cybercrime, identity theft, narcotics and the escalating opioid crisis is a scourge on our nation. Enough is enough. What our country needs is a clear strategy to hit these criminal organizations where it hurts the most: their pocketbooks.”

TCOs have been increasingly linked to the opioid trade in recent years. As a result, the number of opioid-related deaths in the United States has increased 500 percent since 2012 despite a 15.8 percent decrease in the number of prescriptions written for opioid drugs over that time.

“While Maine loses more than one person per day to drug overdoses, transnational criminal organizations are profiting — and in doing so, they’re fueling the most serious public health crisis I’ve seen in my adult life,” King said. “As communities are suffering and people are dying, these organizations are thriving — and that’s simply wrong. We must develop a clear strategy to prevent TCOs from moving the money they value more than human life.”

The CONFRONT Act would also require the president to update the national strategy to disrupt financial markets used by TCOs every two years to reflect the evolving nature of organized crime.

“Drugs tear families apart and ruin lives,” Tester said. “We must crack down on the criminals who bring meth, opioids and illegal drugs into our country. This bipartisan bill will give our law enforcement the strategies they need to combat Transnational Organized Crime.”

The Fraternal Order of Police supports the bill, stating that the ability of TCOs to profit from money laundering, bulk cash smuggling, shell companies and digital currencies needs to be attacked.

“Simply put, until we can stop the flow of criminal profits to these organized, unlawful enterprises, they will continue to survive no matter how many individuals we arrest and prosecute,” the Fraternal Order of Police said in a statement. “Sen. Hatch’s CONFRONT Act accomplishes just that.”