II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3876 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of the 

Treasury to place prohibitions or conditions on certain transmittals of 

funds in connection with jurisdictions, financial institutions, international 

transactions, or types of accounts of primary money laundering concern. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17, 2022 

Mr. WARNER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize the 

Secretary of the Treasury to place prohibitions or conditions on certain transmittals of funds in connection with 

jurisdictions, financial institutions, international transactions, or types of accounts of primary money laundering concern. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Special Measures to 

5 Fight Modern Threats Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The Financial Crimes Enforcement Net4 work (in this section referred to as ‘‘FinCEN’’) is 

5 the financial intelligence unit of the United States 

6 tasked with safeguarding the financial system from 

7 illicit use, combating money laundering and its re8 lated crimes, including terrorism, and promoting na9 tional security. 

10 (2) Under law, FinCEN may require domestic 

11 financial institutions and financial agencies to take 

12 certain ‘‘special measures’’ against jurisdictions, in13 stitutions, classes of transactions, or types of ac14 counts determined to be of primary money laun15 dering concern, providing the Secretary with a range 

16 of options, such as enhanced record-keeping, that 

17 can be adapted to target specific money laundering 

18 and terrorist financing and to bring pressure on 

19 those that pose money laundering threats. 

20 (3) This special-measures authority was grant21 ed in 2001, when most cross-border transactions oc22 curred through correspondent or payable-through ac23 counts held with large financial institutions that 

24 serve as intermediaries to facilitate financial trans25 actions on behalf of other banks. 


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1 (4) Innovations in financial services have trans2 formed and expanded methods of cross-border trans3 actions that could not have been envisioned 20 years 

4 ago when FinCEN was given its special-measures 

5 authority. 

6 (5) These innovations, particularly through dig7 ital assets and informal value transfer systems, while 

8 useful to legitimate consumers and law enforcement, 

9 can be tools abused by bad actors like sanctions 

10 evaders, fraudsters, money launderers, and those 

11 who commit ransomware attacks on victimized 

12 United States companies and that abuse the finan13 cial system to move and obscure the proceeds of 

14 their crimes. 

15 (6) Ransomware attacks on United States com16 panies requiring payments in cryptocurrencies have 

17 increased in recent years, with the Treasury esti18 mating that ransomware payments in the United 

19 States reached $590,000,000 in just the first half of 

20 2021, compared to a total of $416,000,000 in 2020. 

21 (7) In July 2021, the White House, with sup22 port of United States allies, asserted that the Peo23 ple’s Republic of China was responsible for 

24 ransomware operations against private companies 

25 that included demands of millions of dollars, includVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:25 Mar 21, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3876.IS S3876

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1 ing the 2021 ransomware attacks that breached 

2 Microsoft email systems and affected thousands of 

3 consumers, State and local municipalities, and gov4 ernment contractors attributed to a cyber espionage 

5 group with links to the Ministry of State Security of 

6 the People’s Republic of China. 

7 (8) As ransomware attacks organized by Chi8 nese and other foreign bad actors continue to grow 

9 in size and scope, modernizing the special-measure 

10 authorities of FinCEN will empower FinCEN to 

11 adapt its existing tools, monitor and obstruct global 

12 financial threats, and meet the challenges of com13 bating 21st century financial crime. 

14 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS OR CONDITIONS ON CERTAIN 

15 TRANSMITTALS OF FUNDS. 

16 Section 5318A of title 31, United States Code, is 

17 amended— 

18 (1) in subsection (a)(2)(C), by striking ‘‘sub19 section (b)(5)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (5) and 

20 (6) of subsection (b)’’; and 

21 (2) in subsection (b)— 

22 (A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘for or 

23 on behalf of a foreign banking institution’’; and 

24 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(6) PROHIBITIONS OR CONDITIONS ON CER2 TAIN TRANSMITTALS OF FUNDS.—If the Secretary 

3 finds a jurisdiction outside of the United States, 1 

4 or more financial institutions operating outside of 

5 the United States, 1 or more types of accounts with6 in, or involving, a jurisdiction outside of the United 

7 States, or 1 or more classes of transactions within, 

8 or involving, a jurisdiction outside of the United 

9 States to be of primary money laundering concern, 

10 the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

11 State, the Attorney General, and the Chairman of 

12 the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Sys13 tem, may prohibit, or impose conditions upon, cer14 tain transmittals of funds (as such term may be de15 fined by the Secretary in a special measure issuance, 

16 by regulation, or as otherwise permitted by law), to 

17 or from any domestic financial institution or domes18 tic financial agency if such transmittal of funds in19 volves any such jurisdiction, institution, type of ac20 count, or class of transaction.’’. 

Æ 


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