Monetary thresholds for each area identified are provided in FinCEN’s announcement.
Advertisement
It’s also expanding into Bexas County, in Texas, which includes San Antonio.
“Areas with attractive luxury real estate markets may also attract criminals”, said FinCEN spokesman Steve Hudak.
Real estate purchases in the U.S. have been a perfectly good way to launder large amounts of money, no questions asked.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network today expanded the scope of its Geographic Targeting Orders temporarily requiring certain US title insurance companies in targeted areas to identify the individuals behind companies used to conduct high-end, all-cash real estate transactions. The concern is that those who avoid banks may be attempting to hide their identities and assets by using limited liability corporations or other “opaque structures”, according to FinCEN.
A FinCEN official said that no specific case led the government to expand the requirements, but that the new areas were picked based on several factors. During a press call, a FinCEN official elaborated on the network’s findings. It also extends the reporting requirements in Miami and Manhattan.
In January, the Treasury Department said it was requiring title insurance companies to reveal the names of owners behind holding companies that acquire homes priced at $1 million or more in Miami-Dade County and $3 million or more in New York City.
The order is temporary – lasting for 180 days starting on August 28.
The original orders for regions of NY and Florida went out earlier this year.
A FinCEN official told reporters that more than a quarter of transactions caught in the original order involved a purchaser or a representative named in a suspicious-activity report.
“By expanding the GTOs to other major cities, we will learn even more about the money laundering risks in the national real estate markets, helping us determine our future regulatory course”, El-Hindi said.
Advertisement
In its new round of GTOs, FinCEN is expanding the scope of its investigation to include all title transactions (including those done via personal and business check), renew orders in Miami-Dade County and Manhattan, and issue brand-new orders for: the remaining Burroughs of NY; both Broward and Palm Beach counties (the two counties north of Miami); Los Angeles County; the three-county metropolitan area of San Francisco (San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties); San Diego County; and Bexar County in Texas, which includes San Antonio. The threshold in Florida is $1 million, and in California $2 million. Financial institutions are required to send to FinCEN reports of any activity they deem suspicious; The Wall Street Journal reported in March that the number of reports filed has risen dramatically in recent years.
