Banks With Russia Ties Targeted by US Treasury Whistleblowers

This article features Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto’s founding partner, Stephen M. Kohn.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a new U.S. law has revitalized a previously criticized Treasury Department program. Legal experts argued that the original program discouraged whistleblowers from reporting banks involved in sanctions and anti-money laundering breaches.

Consequently, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN, received over 100 whistleblower submissions within a three-week span this year, as per sources knowledgeable about the situation. This is a significant increase compared to the mere 100 tips the agency received in the first two years of the program’s operation.