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Letter to the Hon. Kenneth Blanco, Dir. of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network - Brown, Colleagues Press Treasury Department's FinCEN to Brief Senators on Possible Russian Bounty-linked Wire Transfers

Letter

Date: July 1, 2020
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Military Personnel Finance and Banking Foreign Affairs

Dear Director Blanco:

We write with deep concern about mounting evidence regarding alleged payments by the Government of the Russian Federation, or proxies of that Government, to offer "bounties" for the killing of members of the Armed Forces of the United States or members of the Resolute Support Mission led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Afghanistan.

We are specifically inquiring about recent media reports regarding the existence of intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia's military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account. The media also reported on the discovery of roughly $500,000 in cash seized in a raid of the house of one of the alleged Afghan middlemen in this appalling reported scheme.

We request to be briefed by you directly within the next two days on these reports, including any intercept evidence developed by Treasury or other US government analysts to which FinCEN has access that would shed light on these allegations.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to your prompt response.


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