IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 502 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JANUARY 29, 2019 
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 how virtual currencies and online 
marketplaces are used to buy, sell, or facilitate the fi-
nancing of goods or services associated with sex traf-
ficking or drug trafficking, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fight Illicit Networks 
and Detect Trafficking Act’’ or the ‘‘FIND Trafficking 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to the Drug Enforcement Admin-
istration (DEA) 2017 National Drug Threat Assess-
ment, transnational criminal organizations are in-
creasingly using virtual currencies. 
(2) In its 2015 National Money Laundering 
Risk Assessment, the Department of the Treasury 
concluded: ‘‘The development of virtual currencies is 
an attempt to meet a legitimate market demand. Ac-
cording to a Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago econ-
omist, United States consumers want payment op-
tions that are versatile and that provide immediate 
finality. No United States payment method meets 
that description, although cash may come closest. 
Virtual currencies can mimic cash’s immediate final-
ity and anonymity and are more versatile than cash 
for online and cross-border transactions, making vir-
tual currencies vulnerable for illicit transactions.’’. 
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(3) Virtual currencies have become a prominent 
method to pay for goods and services associated with 
illegal sex trafficking and drug trafficking, which are 
two of the most detrimental and troubling illegal ac-
tivities facilitated by online marketplaces. 
(4) Online marketplaces, including the dark 
web, have become a prominent platform to buy, sell, 
and advertise for illicit goods and services associated 
with sex trafficking and drug trafficking. 
(5) According to the International Labour Or-
ganization, in 2016, 4.8 million people in the world 
were victims of forced sexual exploitation, and in 
2014, the global profit from commercial sexual ex-
ploitation was $99 billion. 
(6) In 2016, within the United States, the Cen-
ter for Disease Control estimated that there were 
64,000 deaths related to drug overdose, and the 
most severe increase in drug overdoses were those 
associated with fentanyl and fentanyl analogs (syn-
thetic opioids), which amounted to over 20,000 over-
dose deaths. 
(7) According to the United States Department 
of the Treasury 2015 National Money Laundering 
Risk Assessment, an estimated $64 billion is gen-
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erated annually from United States drug trafficking 
sales. 
(8) Illegal fentanyl in the United States origi-
nates primarily from China, and it is readily avail-
able to purchase through online marketplaces. 
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 
(a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Comptroller General of 
the United States shall conduct a study on how virtual 
currencies and online marketplaces are used to facilitate 
sex and drug trafficking. The study shall consider— 
(1) how online marketplaces, including the dark 
web, are being used as platforms to buy, sell, or fa-
cilitate the financing of goods or services associated 
with sex trafficking or drug trafficking (specifically, 
opioids and synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, 
fentanyl analogs, and any precursor chemicals asso-
ciated with manufacturing fentanyl or fentanyl 
analogs) destined for, originating from, or within the 
United States; 
(2) how financial payment methods, including 
virtual currencies and peer-to-peer mobile payment 
services, are being utilized by online marketplaces to 
facilitate the buying, selling, or financing of goods 
and services associated with sex or drug trafficking 
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destined for, originating from, or within the United 
States; 
(3) how virtual currencies are being used to fa-
cilitate the buying, selling, or financing of goods and 
services associated with sex or drug trafficking, des-
tined for, originating from, or within the United 
States, when an online platform is not otherwise in-
volved; 
(4) how illicit funds that have been transmitted 
online and through virtual currencies are repatriated 
into the formal banking system of the United States 
through money laundering or other means; 
(5) the participants (state and non-state actors) 
throughout the entire supply chain that participate 
in the buying, selling, or financing of goods and 
services associated with sex or drug trafficking 
(through online marketplaces or virtual currencies) 
destined for, originating from, or within the United 
States; 
(6) Federal and State agency efforts to impede 
the buying, selling, or financing of goods and serv-
ices associated with sex or drug trafficking through 
online marketplaces or virtual currencies that are 
destined for, originating from, or within the United 
States, including efforts to prevent the proceeds 
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from sex or drug trafficking from entering the 
United States banking system through online mar-
ketplaces or virtual currencies; and 
(7) to what extent can the immutable and 
traceable nature of virtual currencies contribute to 
the tracking and prosecution of illicit funding. 
(b) SCOPE.—For the purposes of the study required 
under subsection (a), the term ‘‘sex trafficking’’ means the 
recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtain-
ing, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose 
of a commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud, 
or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform 
such act has not attained 18 years of age. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit to the Com-
mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the 
Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the 
House of Representatives a report summarizing the re-
sults of the study required under subsection (a), together 
with any recommendations for legislative or regulatory ac-
tion that would improve the efforts of Federal agencies 
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to impede the use of virtual currencies and online market-
places in facilitating sex and drug trafficking. 
Passed the House of Representatives January 28, 
2019. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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