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[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2353 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2353

  To require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the estimated 
total assets under direct or indirect control by certain senior Iranian 
           leaders and other figures, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 29, 2018

 Mr. Cotton (for himself and Mr. Hatch) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the estimated 
total assets under direct or indirect control by certain senior Iranian 
           leaders and other figures, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Iranian Leadership Asset 
Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Iran is characterized by high levels of official and 
        institutional corruption, and substantial involvement by Iran's 
        security forces, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard 
        Corps (in this Act referred to as the ``IRGC''), in the 
        economy.
            (2) Many members of Iran's senior political and military 
        leadership have acquired significant personal and institutional 
        wealth by using their positions to secure control of 
        significant portions of Iran's national economy.
            (3) Sanctions relief provided through the Joint 
        Comprehensive Plan of Action has resulted in the removal of 
        many Iranian entities that are tied to governmental corruption 
        from the list of entities sanctioned by the United States.
            (4) The Department of the Treasury in 2011 designated 
        Iran's financial sector as a jurisdiction of primary money 
        laundering concern under section 5318A of title 31, United 
        States Code, stating ``Treasury has for the first time 
        identified the entire Iranian financial sector; including 
        Iran's Central Bank, private Iranian banks, and branches, and 
        subsidiaries of Iranian banks operating outside of Iran as 
        posing illicit finance risks for the global financial 
        system.''.
            (5) Iran continues to be listed by the Financial Action 
        Task Force (in this section referred to as ``FATF'') among the 
        ``high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions'', jurisdictions 
        that FATF perceives to be non-cooperative in the global fight 
        against terrorist finance and money laundering.
            (6) Iran and North Korea are the only countries listed by 
        the FATF as ``high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions'' 
        against which countries that are members of FATF should take 
        measures.
            (7) The Transparency International index of perceived 
        public corruption ranks Iran 131st out of 176 countries 
        surveyed.
            (8) The Department of State identified Iran as a ``major 
        money-laundering country'' in its International Narcotics 
        Control Strategy Report for 2016.
            (9) The Department of State currently identifies Iran, 
        along with North Korea, Sudan, and Syria, as a state sponsor of 
        terrorism, for ``having repeatedly provided support for acts of 
        international terrorism''.
            (10) The Department of State's Country Reports on Terrorism 
        for 2014, noted that ``Iran continued to sponsor terrorist 
        groups around the world, principally through its Islamic 
        Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF). These groups 
        included Lebanese Hizballah, several Iraqi Shia militant 
        groups, Hamas, and Palestine Islamic Jihad. Iran, Hizballah, 
        and other Shia militia continued to provide support to the Asad 
        regime, dramatically bolstering its capabilities, prolonging 
        the civil war in Syria, and worsening the human rights and 
        refugee crisis there.''.
            (11) The Government of Iran's tolerance of corruption and 
        nepotism in business limits opportunities for foreign and 
        domestic investment, particularly given the significant 
        involvement of the IRGC in many sectors of Iran's economy.
            (12) The IRGC and the leadership-controlled bonyads 
        (foundations) control an estimated \1/3\ of Iran's total 
        economy, including large portions of Iran's telecommunications, 
        construction, and airport and port operations. These operations 
        give the IRGC and bonyads vast funds to support terrorist 
        organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
            (13) By gaining control of major economic sectors, the IRGC 
        and bonyads have also served to further disadvantage the 
        average citizen of Iran.

SEC. 3. REPORT RELATING TO ASSETS OF IRANIAN LEADERS AND SENIOR 
              POLITICAL FIGURES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 270 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter (or more frequently if 
the Secretary of the Treasury determines it appropriate based on new 
information received by the Secretary) for the following 2 years, the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall, in furtherance of the Secretary's 
efforts to prevent the financing of terrorism, money laundering, and 
related illicit finance and to make financial institutions' required 
compliance with sanctions more easily understood, submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report containing--
            (1) the estimated total funds or other assets held in 
        accounts at United States and foreign financial institutions 
        that are under direct or indirect control of each individual 
        described in subsection (b) and a description of such funds or 
        assets;
            (2) an identification of any equity interest such an 
        individual has in an entity on the list of specially designated 
        nationals and blocked persons maintained by the Office of 
        Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury or in 
        any other entity with respect to which sanctions are imposed;
            (3) a description of how such funds or assets or equity 
        interests were acquired, and how they have been used or 
        employed;
            (4) a description of any new methods or techniques used to 
        evade anti-money laundering and related laws, including 
        recommendations to improve techniques to combat illicit uses of 
        the United States financial system by individuals described in 
        subsection (b);
            (5) recommendations for how United States economic 
        sanctions against Iran may be revised to prevent the funds or 
        other assets described in paragraph (1) from being used by 
        individuals described in subsection (b) to contribute--
                    (A) to the continued development, testing, and 
                procurement of ballistic missile technology by Iran; 
                and
                    (B) to human rights abuses;
            (6) an assessment of the impact and effectiveness of United 
        States economic sanctions programs against Iran;
            (7) a description of how the Department of the Treasury 
        assesses the impact and effectiveness of United States economic 
        sanctions programs against Iran; and
            (8) recommendations for improving the ability of the 
        Department of the Treasury to rapidly and effectively develop, 
        implement, and enforce additional economic sanctions against 
        Iran if so ordered by the President under the International 
        Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) or any 
        other provision of law.
    (b) Individuals Described.--The individuals described in this 
subsection are the following:
            (1) The Supreme Leader of Iran.
            (2) The President of Iran.
            (3) Members of the Council of Guardians.
            (4) Members of the Expediency Council.
            (5) The Minister of Intelligence and Security.
            (6) The Commander and the Deputy Commander of the IRGC.
            (7) The Commander and the Deputy Commander of the IRGC 
        Ground Forces.
            (8) The Commander and the Deputy Commander of the IRGC 
        Aerospace Force.
            (9) The Commander and the Deputy Commander of the IRGC 
        Navy.
            (10) The Commander of the Basij-e-Mostaz'afin.
            (11) The Commander of the Qods Force.
            (12) The Commander in Chief of the Police Force.
            (13) The head of the IRGC Joint Staff.
            (14) The Commander of the IRGC Intelligence.
            (15) The head of the IRGC Imam Hussein University.
            (16) The Supreme Leader's Representative at the IRGC.
            (17) The Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of the 
        IRGC Cooperative Foundation.
            (18) The Commander of the Khatam-al-Anbia Construction Head 
        Quarter.
            (19) The Chief Executive Officer of the Basij Cooperative 
        Foundation.
            (20) The head of the Political Bureau of the IRGC.
            (21) The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
    (c) Form of Report; Public Availability.--
            (1) Form.--Each report required by subsection (a) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form but may contain a classified 
        annex.
            (2) Public availability.--The unclassified portion of a 
        report required by subsection (a) shall be made available to 
        the public and posted on a publicly available Internet website 
        of the Department of the Treasury--
                    (A) in English, Farsi, Arabic, and Azeri; and
                    (B) in precompressed, easily downloadable versions 
                that are made available in all appropriate formats.
    (d) Sources of Information.--In preparing a report required by 
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury may use any credible 
publication, database, web-based resource, public information compiled 
by any government agency, and any information collected or compiled by 
a nongovernmental organization or other entity provided to or made 
available to the Secretary, that the Secretary finds credible.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Financial Services and the 
                Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
                Representatives; and
                    (B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
                Senate.
            (2) Funds.--The term ``funds'' means--
                    (A) cash;
                    (B) equity;
                    (C) any other intangible asset the value of which 
                is derived from a contractual claim, including bank 
                deposits, bonds, stocks, a security (as defined in 
                section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 
                77b(a))), or a security or an equity security (as 
                defined in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act 
                of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a))); and
                    (D) any other asset that the Secretary determines 
                appropriate.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that, in preparing the reports required 
by section 3, the Secretary of the Treasury should consider acquiring 
information from sources that--
            (1) collect and, if necessary, translate high-veracity, 
        official records; or
            (2) provide search and analysis tools that enable law 
        enforcement agencies to have new insights into commercial and 
        financial relationships.
                                 <all>
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