Combating Wildlife Trafficking Financing and Proceeds Study Act
Bill: H.R.6477 | Sponsor: Rep. Dean, Madeleine (D-PA)
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
Combating Wildlife Trafficking Financing and Proceeds Study Act
This bill requires the Department of the Treasury and the Fish and Wildlife Service to jointly study the illicit financing of and other matters related to wildlife trafficking, including the national security implications and the use of online platforms to facilitate wildlife trafficking.

To require the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the 
  Interior to carry out a study with respect to wildlife trafficking 
            financing and proceeds, 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 ``Combating Wildlife Trafficking 
Financing and Proceeds Study Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The 2017 report by the think tank, Global Financial 
        Integrity, entitled ``Transnational Crime and the Developing 
        World'', determined that the annual global retail value of 
        illegal wildlife trade is between $5 billion to $23 billion, 
        and when losses to ecosystem services are considered, the World 
        Bank estimates the cost of environmental crime is between $1 
        trillion and $2 trillion, annually.
            (2) Wildlife traffickers do not prefer particular species 
        or commodities, but instead, according to the non-governmental 
        organization, United for Wildlife, wildlife traffickers focus 
        on the demand, availability, profit potential, and relatively 
        low risk associated with acquiring, trading, and distributing 
        wildlife globally.
            (3) The trafficking of wildlife affects human health 
        because of undetected spread of zoonotic diseases, scarcity in 
        food resources, and the environmental results of degraded 
        ecosystems.
            (4) Also, the trafficking of illicit wildlife such as 
        pangolins from Africa, macaws from Peru, turtles from the 
        United States, and rosewood species smuggled globally threatens 
        our national security at home and American interests abroad 
        because rogue organizations, including transnational criminal 
        organizations, use the proceeds to fund illegal and violent 
        acts throughout the world, fueling corruption and benefiting 
        from corrupt government officials, weakening the rule of law, 
        and distorting commercial markets.
            (5) Many of these supply chains are affected by Chinese 
        activity, from the criminal organizations involved in the 
        initial poaching of targeted commodities to the demand for 
        goods produced from endangered plants and animals.
            (6) The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces 
        conducted an investigation known as ``Operation Apex'' which 
        identified extensive overlaps among drug trafficking 
        organizations, professional money launderers, and wildlife 
        trafficking syndicates.
            (7) A study conducted by Federal entities that examined 
        wildlife trafficking networks determined that--
                    (A) more than two-thirds of persons trafficking 
                wildlife also trafficked narcotics;
                    (B) 10 percent of persons trafficking wildlife were 
                doing so to finance terrorism; and
                    (C) a small percentage of persons trafficking 
                wildlife were doing so to finance the proliferation of 
                nuclear materials.
            (8) Because wildlife trafficking is executed as part of a 
        commodity-agnostic global enterprise, the United States and 
        allies of the United States should focus efforts to reduce 
        wildlife trafficking on curtailing the expansive networks that 
        traffic wildlife and other goods and on bringing enforcement 
        actions against persons who launder the proceeds of those 
        persons who traffic wildlife rather than pursue specific 
        nations, groups, or commodities.
            (9) In the past decade, the illicit wildlife trade has 
        moved online, mainly to social media platforms, creating 
        jurisdictional and technical challenges for law enforcement.

SEC. 3. STUDY.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of 
the Interior, acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shall 
jointly, not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, conduct a study with respect to wildlife trafficking financing and 
proceeds and submit a report on such study to--
            (1) the Committees on Financial Services and Natural 
        Resources of the House of Representatives; and
            (2) the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 
        and Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
    (b) Consultation.--In conducting the study required under 
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the 
Interior shall consult with such other Federal officials as the 
Secretaries determine appropriate, including the Secretary of State, 
the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of Homeland 
Security Investigations, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of 
Defense.
    (c) Input.--In conducting the study required under subsection (a), 
the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior shall 
solicit and incorporate, where possible and as determined appropriate 
by the Secretaries, input from--
            (1) domestic, foreign, and multilateral law enforcement 
        organizations,
            (2) the intelligence community;
            (3) wildlife advocates;
            (4) experts in transnational organized crime, cyber-crime, 
        and illicit finance; and
            (5) nongovernmental organizations, academia, foundations, 
        and other public and private entities.
    (d) Contents of Report.--The report required under subsection (a) 
shall include--
            (1) an overview of the criminal and complicit actors, 
        including individuals, organizations, corrupt networks, and 
        nations, that participate in wildlife trafficking from source 
        to market, both proactively and permissively.
            (2) an overview of the types of wildlife trafficked, for 
        what purposes, and from where;
            (3) an overview of the roles of professional money 
        launderers, corporate and trust formation agents, kleptocrats, 
        and other supply chain and financial facilitators with respect 
        to wildlife trafficking;
            (4) a discussion, based on a consideration of relevant 
        prior studies and investigations, of the convergence of 
        wildlife trafficking with other types of trafficking, including 
        trafficking in persons, timber trafficking, and narcotics 
        trafficking, including shared supply chains and financial 
        facilitators;
            (5) an overview of the national security implications 
        associated with wildlife trafficking and the financing and 
        proceeds of wildlife trafficking, including--
                    (A) potential threats to security, including 
                corruption and State instability resulting from 
                wildlife trafficking; and
                    (B) potential threats to public health, including 
                global pandemic and ecosystem collapse;
            (6) an examination of how anti-corruption activities might 
        be leveraged with respect to mitigating the ways in which 
        corrupt officials and politically exposed persons enable and 
        engage in wildlife trafficking financing and proceeds;
            (7) an examination of payments methods used to facilitate 
        the trafficking of wildlife, including its financing and 
        proceeds;
            (8) an examination of how online platforms are used to 
        facilitate trafficking and trafficking-related payments that--
                    (A) describes the extent to which illicit wildlife 
                trade occurs online, including through social media 
                platforms, ecommerce sites, and encrypted messaging and 
                other surface web platforms;
                    (B) identifies payments- and proceeds-related 
                reasons that different online platforms may be chosen 
                by persons trafficking in wildlife; and
                    (C) identifies online platforms that are used most 
                for transactions and payments involving trafficking in 
                wildlife;
            (9) an examination of private-sector best practices for 
        combating wildlife trafficking financing and proceeds 
        (including those found in the financial services industry), as 
        well as any practices that have not had success combating 
        wildlife trafficking financing and proceeds;
            (10) a discussion of ways in which existing laws, 
        multilateral agreements, and forums could be expanded or 
        modified to combat wildlife trafficking financing and disrupt 
        its proceeds;
            (11) an identification of tools of international and 
        national engagement, including partnerships with private sector 
        and international financial institutions, that could be 
        coordinated to combat wildlife trafficking financing and 
        disrupt its proceeds;
            (12) recommendations about ways in which interdisciplinary 
        collaboration across Federal agencies could be incentivized to 
        maximize information and analysis from investigations into 
        other types of trafficking and which may benefit from the 
        information and analysis gleaned from wildlife trafficking 
        investigations;
            (13) an examination of how data collection, collaboration, 
        analysis, and technology tools, including artificial 
        intelligence and machine learning might be leveraged to combat 
        wildlife trafficking and its proceeds;
            (14) a recommendation of whether Congress should renew the 
        wildlife trafficking task force authorized in the END Act and 
        sunsetting in December 2021; and
            (15) an examination of how anti-corruption activities and 
        practices could be included in existing Federal and 
        international wildlife trafficking prevention and enforcement 
        efforts.
    (e) Classification of Report.--The report required under subsection 
(a) may be submitted in classified form but shall have an unclassified 
annex or executive summary.
                                 <all>