Until recently, many attorneys had never heard of FinCEN—the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury. FinCEN was formed soon after the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act, one of Congress’ first attempts to fight money laundering that required banks to report “suspicious transactions.” FinCEN became more of a household word after Congress adopted the Corporate Transparency Act in 2020. That law, which took effect this year, will require more than 30 million companies to file beneficial ownership information reports with FinCEN. Now, FinCEN has expanded its reach with a new rule (to be published at 31 CFR 1031.320) that will require closing attorneys and title companies to file transparency reports in connection with many residential real estate closings. See 89 Fed. R. 70258.

Background

Illicit actors sometimes use nonfinanced transfers of residential real estate to launder money. Financed real estate transactions are subject to some scrutiny by banks and other financial institutions that have anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) program and Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filing requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act.