IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7592 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

To require the Comptroller General of the United States 

to carry out a study on trafficking, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Trafficking, 

3 Illicit Flows, Laundering, and Exploitation Act of 2020’’ 

4 or the ‘‘STIFLE Act of 2020’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 The Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) Trafficking is a national-security threat and 

8 an economic drain of our resources. 

9 (2) As the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s 

10 recently released ‘‘2020 National Strategy for Com11 bating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing’’ con12 cludes, ‘‘While money laundering, terrorism financ13 ing, and WMD proliferation financing differ quali14 tatively and quantitatively, the illicit actors engaging 

15 in these activities can exploit the same vulnerabilities 

16 and financial channels.’’. 

17 (3) Among those are bad actors engaged in 

18 trafficking, whether they trade in drugs, arms, cul19 tural property, wildlife, natural resources, counter20 feit goods, organs, or, even, other humans. 

21 (4) Their illegal (or ‘‘dark’’) markets use simi22 lar and sometimes related or overlapping methods 

23 and means to acquire, move, and profit from their 

24 crimes. 

25 (5) In a March 2017, report from Global Fi26 nancial Integrity, ‘‘Transnational Crime and the DeVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7592.RFS H7592

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1 veloping World’’, the global business of transnational 

2 crime was valued at $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion an3 nually, resulting in crime, violence, terrorism, insta4 bility, corruption, and lost tax revenues worldwide. 

5 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 

6 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

7 States shall carry out a study on— 

8 (1) the major trafficking routes used by 

9 transnational criminal organizations, terrorists, and 

10 others, and to what extent the trafficking routes for 

11 people (including children), drugs, weapons, cash, 

12 child sexual exploitation materials, or other illicit 

13 goods are similar, related, or cooperative; 

14 (2) commonly used methods to launder and 

15 move the proceeds of trafficking; 

16 (3) the types of suspicious financial activity 

17 that are associated with illicit trafficking networks, 

18 and how financial institutions identify and report 

19 such activity; 

20 (4) the nexus between the identities and fi21 nances of trafficked persons and fraud; 

22 (5) the tools, guidance, training, partnerships, 

23 supervision, or other mechanisms that Federal agen24 cies, including the Department of the Treasury’s Fi25 nancial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Federal 


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1 financial regulators, and law enforcement, provide to 

2 help financial institutions identify techniques and 

3 patterns of transactions that may involve the pro4 ceeds of trafficking; 

5 (6) what steps financial institutions are taking 

6 to detect and prevent bad actors who are laundering 

7 the proceeds of illicit trafficking, including data 

8 analysis, policies, training procedures, rules, and 

9 guidance; 

10 (7) what role gatekeepers, such as lawyers, no11 taries, accountants, investment advisors, logistics 

12 agents, and trust and company service providers, 

13 play in facilitating trafficking networks and the 

14 laundering of illicit proceeds; and 

15 (8) the role that emerging technologies, includ16 ing artificial intelligence, digital identity tech17 nologies, blockchain technologies, virtual assets, and 

18 related exchanges and online marketplaces, and 

19 other innovative technologies, can play in both as20 sisting with and potentially enabling the laundering 

21 of proceeds from trafficking. 

22 (b) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the study re23 quired under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall 

24 solicit feedback and perspectives to the extent practicable 

25 from survivor and victim advocacy organizations, law enVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Sep 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7592.RFS H7592

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1 forcement, research organizations, private-sector organiza2 tions (including financial institutions and data and tech3 nology companies), and any other organization or entity 

4 that the Comptroller General determines appropriate. 

5 (c) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall issue 

6 one or more reports to the Congress containing the results 

7 of the study required under subsection (a). The first re8 port shall be issued not later than the end of the 15-month 

9 period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

10 The reports shall contain— 

11 (1) all findings and determinations made in car12 rying out the study required under subsection (a); 

13 and 

14 (2) recommendations for any legislative or regu15 latory changes necessary to combat trafficking or 

16 the laundering of proceeds from trafficking. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 21, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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