First appearance on Fox: The House Judiciary Committee announced Friday that federal law enforcement agencies are manipulating the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) system to access Americans' financial information without a warrant or probable cause.
The committee and the federal subcommittee on weaponization released an interim report, first obtained by Fox News Digital, detailing its findings.
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The committee said in its report that the FBI treats financial institutions “as de facto law enforcement agencies, making 'requests' that amount to requests for information related to specific persons or activities without going through legal process.” and “manipulated'' the SAR filing procedure.'' It is considered “suspicious.'' ”
“With narrow exceptions, federal law does not permit law enforcement to examine a financial institution's customer information without some legal process,” the report said. “The FBI circumvents this process by tipping financial institutions of “suspicious'' individuals and encouraging them to file SARs, which do not require legal process, thereby allowing federal law enforcement to file sensitive giving access to confidential information.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
The committee said that by doing so, the FBI would be “avoiding the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act.” The law states that “it is the responsibility of banks to file SARs whenever they identify suspicious transactions that violate or may violate the law.” Regulation. ”
The committee acknowledged that “at least one financial institution has sought legal action from the FBI for the information it sought,” but added that “too often the FBI has met with no resistance.” It looked like there wasn't,” he said.
'Alarming' surveillance: Fed asks banks to search for private transactions for terms like 'MAGA' and 'Trump'
“In short, by providing financial institutions with a list of people who are generally considered 'suspicious' on the front end, the FBI upends this framework and violates the Fourth Amendment requirements of speciality and probable cause.” ,” the report states. .
The committee added that their oversight of “financial surveillance” shed new light on “the declining state of Americans' financial privacy and the federal government's widespread warrantless surveillance programs.” .
The committee revealed earlier this year that a whistleblower revealed that Bank of America “voluntarily, without legal process,” provided a list of everyone's names to the FBI after the January 6, 2021, incident. In response to this, an investigation into government-led financial surveillance has been launched. Individuals using a Bank of America credit or debit card in the Washington, DC area at the time.
Fox News Digital first reported in March that federal agents asked banks to conduct searches and filters. customer transactions By using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” as part of the investigation; January 6, 2021 Capitol rioters warn that purchasing 'religious literature' could be indicative of 'extremism'.
On January 6, 2021, rioters loyal to then-President Trump invaded the Capitol building in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
The committee also obtained documents showing that authorities suggested banks query transactions using keywords such as Dick's Sporting Goods, Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops.
A person familiar with the documents told Fox News Digital at the time that Jan. 6 was the “trigger” for the inquiries and searches, but none of the documents obtained by the committee show that banks were using them to search for customer transactions. He said he did not provide specific time frames or restrictions. Conditionally. The federal government continued to use the information in investigations after January 6, the person said.
“In the days and weeks following January 6, 2021, the FBI worked with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to scrutinize data from financial institutions across the country, even though there was no clear perpetrator. , and encouraged hundreds, if not more, to file SARs regarding the Nexus,” the report states.
Bank of America told Fox News at the time that it “follows all applicable laws and regulatory requirements to receive, evaluate, process, protect and respond in a limited manner to law enforcement requests.” Ta.
At least one financial institution has contacted the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) with the idea of ”assisting the agency's efforts to address the serious threat of domestic terrorism,” according to documents obtained by the committee. It became clear that
On January 6, 2021, rioters loyal to then-President Trump invaded the Capitol building in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
“Financial institutions encouraged FinCEN to use SARs as the basis for issuing Patriot Act 314(a) requests. An agency that identifies accounts and transactions of people who may be involved in terrorism or money laundering. ”
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Following these findings, the commission continued its investigation into the matter, obtained more than 48,000 pages of documents, and called the information obtained through its investigation “alarming.”
“The documents show that federal law enforcement is working increasingly closely with financial institutions, has virtually unlimited access to private financial data, and is experimenting with new methods and technologies to continue financial surveillance of Americans. “This shows that,” the report states.
However, the commission said, “All Americans should be aware of how their financial data is collected, made accessible, and searched by federal and state officials, including law enforcement and regulatory agencies.” “You should feel anxious,” he warned.
“With the rise of e-commerce and the proliferation of cash alternatives such as credit cards and peer-to-peer payment services, in the future there will be very little financial activity beyond the oversight of modern financial institutions and governments,” the report said. states. state. “This is because, as a condition of participating in the modern economy, Americans are forced to disclose details of their private lives to the financial industry, and the financial industry is all too eager to pass that information on to federal law enforcement. be.”
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The report states that the committee's investigation found that “federal law enforcement agencies are taking advantage of this dynamic to deploy financial institutions as federal law enforcement agencies to deploy and distribute financial institutions to profile Americans.” It has become clear that the suspects are instructing financial institutions to identify “suspicious individuals,'' he said. Activities in which the individual may have engaged. ”
“Without new safeguards, the federal government and financial institutions will continue to siphon off Americans' sensitive financial data, place it in the hands of bureaucrats, and erode the last remaining vestiges of financial privacy in the United States,” the committee said. “Deaf,'' he warns.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
