The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced today that it has launched a new Global Investigations Division (GID), which will be responsible for implementing targeted investigation strategies to combat illicit finance threats and related crimes, both domestically and internationally. Matthew Stiglitz, a former Principal Deputy Chief in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, will lead GID.

GID will build upon FinCEN’s existing authorities under the Bank Secrecy Act, including Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, to investigate and target terrorist finance and money laundering threats. GID will work closely with foreign counterparts to coordinate actions against such threats when appropriate.

According to FinCEN, the foundation of GID is the agency’s former Office of Special Measures (OSM), which was previously a part of FinCEN’s Enforcement Division. FinCEN’s strategic use of its Section 311 authority as well as its other information collection authorities, such as the geographic targeting order and foreign financial agency regulation authorities, have greatly expanded in recent years. FinCEN will now have one dedicated division focused on utilizing these authorities to maximum effect, building upon OSM’s prior work.

GID will employ FinCEN’s authorities to detect and deter a wide range of potential threats to our national security and financial system, including those that have a nexus to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, rogue state actors, transnational organized crime, international narcotics trafficking, and terrorism.

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