STIFLE Act of 2020

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7592 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7592

To require the Comptroller General of the United States to carry out a 
             study on trafficking, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 2020

   Mr. McAdams (for himself and Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Comptroller General of the United States to carry out a 
             study on trafficking, 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 ``Stopping Trafficking, Illicit Flows, 
Laundering, and Exploitation Act of 2020'' or the ``STIFLE Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Trafficking is a national-security threat and an 
        economic drain of our resources.
            (2) As the U.S. Department of the Treasury's recently 
        released ``2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and 
        Other Illicit Financing'' concludes, ``While money laundering, 
        terrorism financing, and WMD proliferation financing differ 
        qualitatively and quantitatively, the illicit actors engaging 
        in these activities can exploit the same vulnerabilities and 
        financial channels.''.
            (3) Among those are bad actors engaged in trafficking, 
        whether they trade in drugs, arms, cultural property, wildlife, 
        natural resources, counterfeit goods, organs, or, even, other 
        humans.
            (4) Their illegal (or ``dark'') markets use similar and 
        sometimes related or overlapping methods and means to acquire, 
        move, and profit from their crimes.
            (5) In a March 2017, report from Global Financial 
        Integrity, ``Transnational Crime and the Developing World'', 
        the global business of transnational crime was valued at $1.6 
        trillion to $2.2 trillion annually, resulting in crime, 
        violence, terrorism, instability, corruption, and lost tax 
        revenues worldwide.

SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.

    (a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
carry out a study on--
            (1) the major trafficking routes used by transnational 
        criminal organizations, terrorists, and others, and to what 
        extent the trafficking routes for people (including children), 
        drugs, weapons, cash, child sexual exploitation materials, or 
        other illicit goods are similar, related, or cooperative;
            (2) commonly used methods to launder and move the proceeds 
        of trafficking;
            (3) the types of suspicious financial activity that are 
        associated with illicit trafficking networks, and how financial 
        institutions identify and report such activity;
            (4) the nexus between the identities and finances of 
        trafficked persons and fraud;
            (5) the tools, guidance, training, partnerships, 
        supervision, or other mechanisms that Federal agencies, 
        including the Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes 
        Enforcement Network, the Federal financial regulators, and law 
        enforcement, provide to help financial institutions identify 
        techniques and patterns of transactions that may involve the 
        proceeds of trafficking;
            (6) what steps financial institutions are taking to detect 
        and prevent bad actors who are laundering the proceeds of 
        illicit trafficking, including data analysis, policies, 
        training procedures, rules, and guidance;
            (7) what role gatekeepers, such as lawyers, notaries, 
        accountants, investment advisors, logistics agents, and trust 
        and company service providers, play in facilitating trafficking 
        networks and the laundering of illicit proceeds; and
            (8) the role that emerging technologies, including 
        artificial intelligence, digital identity technologies, 
        blockchain technologies, virtual assets, and related exchanges 
        and online marketplaces, and other innovative technologies, can 
        play in both assisting with and potentially enabling the 
        laundering of proceeds from trafficking.
    (b) Consultation.--In carrying out the study required under 
subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall solicit feedback and 
perspectives to the extent practicable from survivor and victim 
advocacy organizations, law enforcement, research organizations, 
private-sector organizations (including financial institutions and data 
and technology companies), and any other organization or entity that 
the Comptroller General determines appropriate.
    (c) Report.--The Comptroller General shall issue one or more 
reports to the Congress containing the results of the study required 
under subsection (a). The first report shall be issued not later than 
the end of the 15-month period beginning on the date of the enactment 
of this Act. The reports shall contain--
            (1) all findings and determinations made in carrying out 
        the study required under subsection (a); and
            (2) recommendations for any legislative or regulatory 
        changes necessary to combat trafficking or the laundering of 
        proceeds from trafficking.
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