I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7128 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2022 

Mr. HIMES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

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 (FinCEN) is the Financial Intelligence Unit of 

5 the United States tasked with safeguarding the fi6 nancial system from illicit use, combating money 

7 laundering and its related crimes including ter8 rorism, and promoting national security. 

9 (2) Per statute, FinCEN may require domestic 

10 financial institutions and financial agencies to take 

11 certain ‘‘special measures’’ against jurisdictions, in12 stitutions, classes of transactions, or types of ac13 counts determined to be of primary money laun14 dering concern, providing the Secretary with a range 

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

16 can be adapted to target specific money laundering 

17 and terrorist financing and to bring pressure on 

18 those that pose money laundering threats. 

19 (3) This special-measures authority was grant20 ed in 2001, when most cross-border transactions oc21 curred through correspondent or payable-through ac22 counts held with large financial institutions which 

23 serve as intermediaries to facilitate financial trans24 actions on behalf of other banks. 

25 (4) Innovations in financial services have trans26 formed and expanded methods of cross-border transVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:16 Apr 13, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7128.IH H7128

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1 actions that could not have been envisioned 20 years 

2 ago when FinCEN was given its special-measures 

3 authority. 

4 (5) These innovations, particularly through dig5 ital assets and informal value transfer systems, while 

6 useful to legitimate consumers and law enforcement, 

7 can be tools abused by bad actors like sanctions 

8 evaders, fraudsters, money launderers, and those 

9 who commit ransomware attacks on victimized U.S. 

10 companies and which abuse the financial system to 

11 move and obscure the proceeds of their crimes. 

12 (6) Ransomware attacks on U.S. companies re13 quiring payments in cryptocurrencies have increased 

14 in recent years, with the U.S. Treasury estimating 

15 that ransomware payments in the United States 

16 reached $590 million in just the first half of 2021, 

17 compared to a total of $416 million in 2020. 

18 (7) In July 2021, the White House, with sup19 port of U.S. allies, asserted that the People’s Repub20 lic of China was responsible for ransomware oper21 ations against private companies that included de22 mands of millions of dollars, including the 2021 

23 ransomware attacks that breached Microsoft email 

24 systems and affected thousands of consumers, State 

25 and local municipalities, and government contractors 


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1 attributed to a cyber espionage group with links to 

2 the Chinese Ministry of State Security. 

3 (8) As ransomware attacks organized by Chi4 nese and other foreign bad actors continue to grow 

5 in size and scope, modernizing FinCEN’s special 

6 measure authorities will empower FinCEN to adapt 

7 its existing tools, monitor and obstruct global finan8 cial threats, and meet the challenges of combating 

9 21st century financial crime. 

10 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS OR CONDITIONS ON CERTAIN 

11 TRANSMITTALS OF FUNDS. 

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

13 amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (a)(2)(C), by striking ‘‘sub15 section (b)(5)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (5) and 

16 (6) of subsection (b)’’; and 

17 (2) in subsection (b)— 

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

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

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

21 ‘‘(6) PROHIBITIONS OR CONDITIONS ON CER22 TAIN TRANSMITTALS OF FUNDS.—If the Secretary 

23 finds a jurisdiction outside of the United States, 1 

24 or more financial institutions operating outside of 

25 the United States, 1 or more types of accounts withVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:16 Apr 13, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7128.IH H7128

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1 in, or involving, a jurisdiction outside of the United 

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

3 or involving, a jurisdiction outside of the United 

4 States to be of primary money laundering concern, 

5 the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

6 State, the Attorney General, and the Chairman of 

7 the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Sys8 tem, may prohibit, or impose conditions upon certain 

9 transmittals of funds (as such term may be defined 

10 by the Secretary in a special measure issuance, by 

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

12 from any domestic financial institution or domestic 

13 financial agency if such transmittal of funds involves 

14 any such jurisdiction, institution, type of account, or 

15 class of transaction.’’. 

Æ 


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