The Treasury ’s Special Enforcement Measures, Again

Nicholas AnthonySome may remember when the “Special Measures to Fight Modern Threats Act” was excluded from theNational Defense Authorization Act and then later excluded fromthe COMPETES Act. It seems that the bill is back once again after Representative Jim Himes (D ‑CT) reintroduced it last week.Originally, the bill was designed to remove a number of public notice requirements and expand the Treasury ’senforcement abilities under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)in order to, “[streamline] the process by which special measures may be introduced and [modernize] the authorities granted to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).”Thenew version of the bill, however, no longer contains the language that would have released the Treasury from having to notify the public of its actions. It also no longer contains the language that would have removed the time limits on the enforcement actions themselves. So it ’s no longer a case of the Treasury receiving unchecked power, but the bill does still seek to expand the Treasury ’s powers through the section titled, “Prohibitions or Conditions on Certain Transmittals of Funds.”As I explained in January, this section would make it possible for the Treasury to prohibit transactions involving anyone outside the United States. For instance, one likely scenario is that the Treasury would use this authority to prohibit U.S. banks from being involved with cryptocurrency transactions validated by miners locat...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs