WASHINGTON--The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has proposed rules to fully stand up a long-awaited whistleblower program that would pay individuals 10% to 30% of collected monetary penalties if their tips lead to successful enforcement actions involving Bank Secrecy Act violations, sanctions cases and other illicit-finance offenses. FinCEN said the proposal was submitted Monday to the Federal Register as a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the program is intended to encourage people to come forward with “timely, actionable information” tied to fraud, sanctions violations and other significant illicit-finance activity, adding the administration wants to ensure tax dollars are not diverted to support fraud or terrorism. Under the proposal, awards would be available when a tip leads to a successful enforcement action by Treasury or the Department of Justice.
FinCEN said the proposed rule would establish the mechanics for how whistleblowers can securely submit information and apply for awards, spell out eligibility standards and adjudication procedures, and formally provide protections for individuals who report information through the program. The agency said it is particularly focused on fraud-related violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, Treasury sanctions programs administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and other laws tied to protecting the U.S. financial system and national security.
While the whistleblower program was already authorized under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 and later strengthened by the Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Improvement Act of 2022, FinCEN said the new rule would fully implement those statutes. The agency noted it is already accepting tips and recently launched a dedicated whistleblower portal, but said the rule would complete the framework for incentives and protections.