WASHINGTON — Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05), along with three colleagues, co-introduced the Combating Money Laundering in Cyber Crime Act to revise and align criminal and banking statutes to clarify the U.S.
Secret Service’s investigative authority into illicit digital asset transactions.
Fitzgerald
According to the release, the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) investigates a variety of cyber-related criminal activities, including the use of illicit digital assets, through a global network that includes 44 Cyber Fraud Task Forces.
But the USSS is not able to investigate criminal or unlawful activity in or against organizations that are not federally insured financial institutions, but are defined as financial institutions, under the Bank Secrecy Act (31 U.S.C. § 5312), creating a gap for the USSS in addressing new forms of illicit digital asset transactions, according to the release.
“Since 2015, the USSS has investigated more than 302 cases involving digital assets, resulting in 535 seizures with an appraised value of over $113.5 million,” said Fitzgerald in the release. “It’s imperative that the USSS is empowered to continue this important work. In order to do so, we must align outdated U.S. code to ensure the agency can address emerging forms of criminal activity involving digital assets. I’m proud to introduce the Combating Money Laundering in Cyber Crimes Act to help precisely accomplish this task.”
The bipartisan bill is co-lead by U.S. Reps. Zach Nunn (IA-03), Gregory Meeks (NY-05) and Madeleine Dean (PA-04).
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