Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government are looking into seven additional financial companies for allegedly colluding with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ( FinCEN ) and the FBI to spy on Americans ‘ private banking transactions without even obtaining a warrant.
As BizPac Review , reported, a March commission report revealed that federal law enforcement organized Zoom conversations with organizations that included U. S. Bank, Paypal, Wells Fargo, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, and more as part of studies into Jan. 6.
According to the report, the Government operated a “portal” where it shared advice for financial institutions on how to identify “domestic violent radicals,” which included searches for customer purchases using terms like “MAGA” and” Trump” as well as purchases for products like “religious writings.”
In a Thursday “exclusive”, Daily Mail.com, then reports that” Charles Schwab, HSBC, MUFG, PayPal, Santander, Standard Chartered and Western Union have all been asked to turn over papers and connections with FinCEN and the FBI to the council”, according to papers obtained by the store.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio ) as committee chair wrote the institutions,” The Committee and Select Subcommittee remain concerned about how and to what extent federal law enforcement and financial institutions continue to spy on Americans by using backdoor information sharing and casting sprawling classes of transactions, purchase behavior, and protected political or religious expression as potentially” suspicious” or indicative of “extremism.”
According to Jordan,” the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ( FinCEN ) distributed concerning materials” to each of the seven additional firms,” according to the Committee and Select Subcommittee.
#NEWS: Chairman @Jim_Jordan expands economic security analysis to other big businesses.
Learn more around ↓https: //t. co/VxHGXTMC58
— Weaponization Committee ( @Weaponization ) April 25, 2024
Daily Mail.com even obtained a letter from Jordan to Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen.
The senator wrote that” this kind of illegal monetary surveillance raises major concerns about the federal government’s regard for Americans ‘ privacy and essential legal liberties.”
Daily Mail.com reports:
According to investigators, FinCEN and the FBI received data on 211 individuals from the Bank of America in a Suspicious Activity Report ( SAR ) on January 17, 2021.
The FBI and FinCEN just sent the SAR after a letter that was sent following January 6 asked U.S. banks to look up customer transactions for terms like “MAGA” and” Trump” in order to determine “extremism.”
According to Peter Sullivan, the FBI’s original fiscal business contact, the federal authorities provided the financial institutions with” tough thresholds” for which an Radar should be raised.
On April 9, he sat for a transcripted meeting with the weaponization commission.
According to the’ level’ set by the FBI and FinCEN, Bank of America then sent the files of the 211 people.
According to Jordan, the Committee and Select Subcommittee are concerned that the federal government has contacted different financial institutions that have manipulated the SAR registration process to obtain information and exchange history of people without making any allegations of national criminal activity, as a result of this coordination, Jordan told Yellen in his email.
” After Bank of America sent over the list of 211 customers ‘ whose transactions met the federal ‘ thresholds,’ Sullivan requested additional transaction history”, Daily Mail.com reports. ” He asked that Bank of America send over any’ weapons- related transactions.'”
Out of the 211 on the list, four BofA were identified, prompting” criminal background queries” into each of them.
” Later, four federal agents were deployed to three FBI field offices to investigate those individuals”, Daily Mail.com reports. The FBI “uploaded their findings to a portal and distributed” a number of leads” to additional persons of interest after the investigations were finished”
” But, according to the then- Section Chief of the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Operations Selection Steve Jensen, the leads were pulled because they’ lacked allegations of federal criminal conduct,'” the outlet continues. ” Meaning, these individuals met’ thresholds ‘ set by the FBI and FinCEN, but they were not actually being investigated for an alleged crime,” the statement read.
The Committee and Select Subcommittee are concerned that the federal government, through the FBI and FinCEN, sent comparable or identical thresholds to other financial institutions that manipulated the SAR filing process to obtain information and transaction history of individuals without making any allegations of federal criminal conduct, Jordan wrote Yellen.
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. In a small town in the Sierra, Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats.
Nevada foothills.
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