Major banks processed transactions they suspected were illegal, filings show

A cache of thousands of reports major banks filed with federal regulators shows that they moved trillions of dollars around the world for suspected terrorists, drug dealers and corrupt foreign officials despite concerns about the suspicious nature of the transactions.

The documents, known as suspicious activity reports, were obtained by BuzzFeed News and shared with a worldwide consortium of journalists. The more than 2,100 suspicious activity reports, filed by major U.S. and international banks, relate to more than $2 trillion of transactions between 1999 and 2017.

Banks are required to file the reports with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, for transactions they believe could be part of money laundering schemes, fraud or other illegal activity.