[Federal Register: July 21, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 140)]

[Notices]

[Page 42405-42411]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr21jy08-117]

 

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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

 

 

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; Privacy Act of 1974, as

Amended; Systems of Records

 

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Treasury.

 

ACTION: Notice of systems of records.

 

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of

1974, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Financial Crimes Enforcement

Network (FinCEN), Treasury, is publishing its inventory of Privacy Act

systems of records.

 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5

U.S.C. 552a) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No.

A-130, FinCEN has completed a review of its Privacy Act systems of

records notices to identify minor changes that will more accurately

describe these records. FinCEN's Privacy Act system of records notices

were last published in their entirety on August 8, 2005, 70 FR 45756-

45761.

    The changes throughout the document are editorial in nature and

consist principally of a changing the name of FinCEN.001 from ``FinCEN

Data Base'' to ``FinCEN Investigations and Examinations System.''

Changes under ``system location'' and ``system manager,'' standardize

the language regarding application of the exemptions claimed for each

system of records under the headings ``notification procedure,''

``record access procedures,'' or ``contesting record procedures.''

 

[[Page 42406]]

 

    On May 22, 2007, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued

Memorandum M-07-16 entitled ``Safeguarding Against and Responding to

the Breach of Personally Identifiable Information.'' It required

agencies to publish the routine use recommended by the President's

Identity Theft Task Force. As part of that effort, the Department

published the notice of the proposed routine use on October 3, 2007, at

72 FR 56434, and it was effective on November 13, 2007. The new routine

use has been added to each FinCEN system of records below.

    Department of the Treasury regulations require the Department to

publish the existence and character of all systems of records every

three years (31 CFR 1.23(a)(1)). At the same time that FinCEN is

addressing this requirement, it is addressing the requirement to review

its current holding pursuant to M-07-16. With respect to its inventory

of Privacy Act Systems of records, FinCEN has determined that the

information contained in its systems of records is accurate, timely,

relevant, complete, and is the minimum necessary to maintain the proper

performance of a documented agency function.

 

Systems Covered by This Notice

 

    This notice covers all systems of records adopted by FinCEN up to

January 1, 2008. The systems notices are reprinted in their entirety

following the Table of Contents.

 

    Dated: July 11, 2008.

Elizabeth Cuffe,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Privacy and Treasury Records.

 

Table of Contents

 

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

 

FinCEN.001--FinCEN Investigations and Examinations System [formerly:

FinCEN Data Base].

FinCEN.002--Suspicious Activity Report System (the SAR System).

FinCEN.003--Bank Secrecy Act Reports System.

Treasury/FinCEN.001

 

System name:

    FinCEN Investigations and Examinations System--Treasury/FinCEN.

 

System location:

    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA

22183-0039.

 

Categories of individuals covered by the system:

    (1) Individuals who relate in any manner to official FinCEN efforts

in support of the enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act and money-

laundering and other financial crimes. Such individuals may include,

but are not limited to, subjects of investigations and prosecutions;

suspects in investigations; victims of such crimes; witnesses in such

investigations and prosecutions; and close relatives and associates of

any of these individuals who may be relevant to an investigation; (2)

current and former FinCEN personnel whom FinCEN considers relevant to

an investigation or inquiry; and (3) individuals who are the subject of

unsolicited information possibly relevant to violations of law or

regulations, who offer unsolicited information relating to such

violations, who request assistance from FinCEN, and who make inquiries

of FinCEN.

 

Categories of records in the system:

    Every possible type of information that contributes to effective

law enforcement and regulation of financial institutions may be

maintained in this system of records, including, but not limited to,

subject files on individuals, corporations, and other legal entities;

information provided pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act; information

gathered pursuant to search warrants; statements of witnesses;

information relating to past queries of the FinCEN Data Base; criminal

referral information; complaint information; identifying information

regarding witnesses, relatives, and associates; investigative reports;

and intelligence reports. Records include queries and the results of

queries made by FinCEN customers; and FinCEN employees on behalf of

investigatory agencies, financial intelligence units, other FinCEN

customers, and FinCEN itself.

 

Authority for maintenance of the system:

    5 U.S.C. 301, 31 U.S.C. 5311 et seq.; 31 U.S.C. 310; 31 CFR part

103; Treasury Department Order 180-01 (September 26, 2002).

 

Purpose(s):

    The purpose of this system of records is to support FinCEN's

efforts to provide a government-wide, multi-source intelligence and

analytical network to support the detection, investigation, and

prosecution of domestic and international money laundering, other

financial crimes, and other domestic and international criminal, tax,

and regulatory investigations and examinations.

 

Routine uses of records maintained in the system including categories

of users and the purposes of such uses:

    Records in this system may be used to:

    (1) Provide responses to queries from Federal, State, territorial,

and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies, both foreign and

domestic, regarding Bank Secrecy Act and other financial crime

enforcement;

    (2) Furnish information to other Federal, State, local,

territorial, and foreign law enforcement and regulatory agencies

responsible for investigating or prosecuting the violations of, or for

enforcing or implementing a statute, rule, regulation, order, or

license, where FinCEN becomes aware of an indication of a violation or

potential violation of civil or criminal law or regulation;

    (3) Furnish information to the Department of Defense, to support

its role in the detection and monitoring of aerial and maritime transit

of illegal drugs into the United States and any other role in support

of law enforcement that the law may mandate;

    (4) Respond to queries from INTERPOL in accordance with agreed

coordination procedures between FinCEN and INTERPOL;

    (5) Furnish information to individuals and organizations, in the

course of enforcement efforts, to the extent necessary to elicit

information pertinent to financial law enforcement;

    (6) Furnish information to a court, magistrate, or administrative

tribunal in the course of presenting evidence, including disclosures to

opposing counsel or witnesses in the course of civil discovery,

litigation, or settlement negotiations, in response to a subpoena, or

in connection with civil or criminal law proceedings;

    (7) Furnish information to the news media in accordance with the

guidelines contained in 28 CFR 50.2, which relate to civil and criminal

proceedings;

    (8) Furnish information to the Department of State and the

Intelligence Community to further those agencies' efforts with respect

to national security and international and the foreign aspects of

international narcotics trafficking; and

    (9) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when (a) FinCEN

suspects or has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of

information in the system of records has been compromised; (b) FinCEN

has determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed

compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests,

identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this

system or other systems

 

[[Page 42407]]

 

or programs (whether maintained by FinCEN or another agency or entity)

that rely upon the compromised information; and (c) the disclosure made

to such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to

assist in connection with FinCEN's efforts to respond to the suspected

or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.

 

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,

and disposing of records in the system:

Storage:

    Magnetic media and hard copy.

 

Retrievability:

    By name, address, or other unique identifier.

 

Safeguards:

    All FinCEN personnel accessing the system will have successfully

passed a background investigation. FinCEN will furnish information from

the system of records to approved personnel only on a ``need to know''

basis using passwords and access control. Procedural and physical

safeguards to be utilized include the logging of all queries and

periodic review of such query logs; compartmentalization of information

to restrict access to authorized personnel; physical protection of

sensitive hard copy information; encryption of electronic

communications; intruder alarms; and 24-hour building guards. The

system complies with all applicable security requirements of the

Department of the Treasury.

 

Retention and disposal:

    FinCEN personnel will review records each time a record is

retrieved and on a periodic basis to see whether it should be retained

or modified. FinCEN will dispose of all records after twenty years.

Records will be disposed of by erasure of magnetic media and by

shredding and/or burning of hard copy documents.

 

System manager(s) and addresses:

    Deputy Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, P.O. Box 39,

Vienna, VA 22183-0039.

 

Notification procedure:

    This system is exempt from notification requirements, record access

requirements, and requirements that an individual be permitted to

contest its contents, pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C.

552a(j)(2), (k)(1), and (k)(2).

 

Record Access procedures:

    See ``Notification procedure'' above.

 

Contesting Record procedures:

    See ``Notification procedure'' above.

 

Record source categories:

    See ``Categories of individuals covered by the system'' above.

Pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552a(j)(2), (k)(1), and (k)(2),

this system is exempt from the requirement that the Record source

categories be disclosed.

 

Exemptions claimed for the system:

    This system is exempt from 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3), (c)(4), (d)(1),

(d)(2), (d)(3), (d)(4), (e)(1), (e)(2), (e)(3), (e)(4)(G), (H), and

(I), (e)(5), (e)(8), (f), and (g) of the Privacy Act pursuant to 5

U.S.C. 552a(j)(2), (k)(1), and (k)(2). See 31 CFR 1.36.

Treasury/FinCEN.002

 

System name:

    Suspicious Activity Report System (the ``SAR System'')--Treasury/

FinCEN.

 

System location:

    The Internal Revenue Service Enterprise Computing Center Detroit

(ECCD), 985 Michigan Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48226-1129 and the

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA

22183-0039.

 

Categories of individuals covered by the system:

    The SAR System contains information from forms including, but not

limited to: Form TD F 90-22.47 (Suspicious Activity Report by

Depository Institutions)--to be replaced by FinCEN 111; FinCEN 101

(Suspicious Activity Report by Securities and Futures Industries);

FinCEN 102 (Suspicious Activity Report by Casinos and Card Clubs)--

formerly TD F 90-22.49; FinCEN 109 (Suspicious Activity Report by Money

Services Business)--formerly TD F 90-22.56. Information on these forms

concerns:

    (1) Individuals or entities that are known perpetrators or

suspected perpetrators of a known or suspected federal criminal

violation, or pattern of criminal violations, committed or attempted

against a financial institution, or participants in a transaction or

transactions conducted through the financial institution, that have

been reported by the financial institution, either voluntarily or

because such a report is required under the rules of FinCEN, one or

more of the Federal Supervisory Agencies (the Board of Governors of the

Federal Reserve System (the Board), the Office of the Comptroller of

the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC),

the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), and the National Credit Union

Administration NCUA) (collectively, the ``Federal Supervisory

Agencies'')), or both.

    (2) Individuals or entities that are participants in transactions,

conducted or attempted by, at, or through a financial institution, that

have been reported because the institution knows, suspects, or has

reason to suspect that: (a) The transaction involves funds derived from

illegal activities, the transaction is intended or conducted to hide or

disguise funds or assets derived from illegal activities as part of a

plan to violate or evade any law or regulation or to avoid any

transaction reporting requirement under Federal law; (b) the

transaction is designed to evade any regulations promulgated under the

Bank Secrecy Act, Pub. L. 91-508, as amended, codified at 12 U.S.C.

1829b, 12 U.S.C. 1951-1959, and 31 U.S.C. 5311-5331; or (c) the

transaction has no business or apparent lawful purpose or is not the

sort in which the particular customer would normally be expected to

engage, and the financial institution knows of no reasonable

explanation for the transaction after examining the available facts,

including the background and possible purpose of the transaction;

    (3) Individuals who are directors, officers, employees, agents, or

otherwise affiliated with a financial institution;

    (4) Individuals or entities that are actual or potential victims of

a criminal violation or series of violations;

    (5) Individuals who are named as possible witnesses in connection

with matters arising from any such report;

    (6) Individuals or entities named as preparers of any such report;

    (7) Individuals or entities named as persons to be contacted for

assistance by government agencies in connection with any such report;

    (8) Individuals or entities who have or might have information

about individuals or criminal violations described above;

    (9) Individuals or entities involved in evaluating or investigating

any matters arising from any such report;

    (10) Individuals, entities and organizations suspected of engaging

in terrorist and other criminal activities and any person who may be

affiliated with such individuals, entities or organizations;

    (11) Individuals or entities named by financial institutions as

persons to be contacted for further assistance by government agencies

in connection with individuals, entities or organizations suspected of

engaging in terrorist or other criminal activities; and

    (12) Individuals or entities involved in evaluating or

investigating any matters in connection with individuals, entities or

organizations suspected of

 

[[Page 42408]]

 

engaging in terrorist or other criminal activity.

 

Categories of records in the system:

    The SAR System contains information reported to FinCEN by a

financial institution (including, but not limited to, a depository

institution, a money services business, a broker-dealer in securities,

and a casino) on a Suspicious Activity Report (``SAR'') that is filed

voluntarily or as required under the authority of FinCEN, one or more

of the Federal Supervisory Agencies, or under any other authority. The

SAR System also may contain information that may relate to terrorist or

other criminal activity that is reported voluntarily to FinCEN by any

individual or entity through any other means, including through

FinCEN's Financial Institutions Hotline. The SAR System also may

contain information relating to individuals, entities, and

organizations reasonably suspected based on credible evidence of

engaging in terrorist or other criminal activities, including

information provided to FinCEN from financial institutions regarding

such individuals, entities, and organizations. SARs contain information

about the categories of persons or entities specified in ``Categories

of Individuals Covered by the system.'' The SAR System may also contain

records pertaining to criminal prosecutions, civil actions, enforcement

proceedings, and investigations resulting from or relating to SARs.

Additionally, it will contain records pertaining to criminal

prosecutions, civil actions, enforcement proceedings, and

investigations relating to institutions required to file reports or

under the supervision of one or more of the Federal Supervisory

agencies.

 

Authority for maintenance of the system:

    The system is established and maintained in accordance with 31

U.S.C. 5318(g); 31 U.S.C. 321; and 31 U.S.C. 310; 31 CFR Part 103;

Treasury Department Order 180-01 (September 26, 2002).

 

Purpose(s):

    The requirements of FinCEN and the Federal Supervisory Agencies

create an integrated process for reporting suspicious activity and

known or suspected crimes by, at, or through depository institutions

and certain of their affiliates. The process is based on a single

uniform SAR filed with FinCEN.

    The SAR System has been created, as a key part of this integrated

reporting process, to permit coordinated and enhanced analysis and

tracking of such information, and rapid dissemination of SAR

information to appropriate law enforcement and supervisory agencies.

The provisions of 31 U.S.C. 5318(g)(4)(B) specifically require that the

agency designated as repository for SARs refer those reports to any

appropriate law enforcement or supervisory agency.

    Data from the SAR System will be exchanged, retrieved, and

disseminated, both manually and electronically among FinCEN, the

Federal Supervisory Agencies, appropriate Federal, State, and local law

enforcement, regulatory, and tax agencies, and State banking

supervisory agencies. Agencies to which information will be referred

electronically, which in certain cases may involve electronic transfers

of batch information, include the Federal Supervisory Agencies, the

Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the

United States Secret Service, the United States Customs and Border

Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Drug

Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and

Explosives, appropriate federal agencies' Inspector General Offices,

the Executive Office of the United States Attorneys and the Offices of

the 93 United States Attorneys, State bank supervisory agencies, and

certain State law enforcement, regulatory, and tax agencies, which have

entered into appropriate agreements with FinCEN. Organizations to which

information is regularly disseminated are referred to as SAR System

Users. It is anticipated that information from the SAR System will also

be disseminated to other appropriate Federal, State, or local law

enforcement, regulatory and tax agencies that enter into appropriate

agreements with FinCEN. In addition, information may be disseminated to

non-United States financial regulatory and law enforcement agencies.

 

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories