On November 7, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a Cost Estimate report for H.R. 7195, a bipartisan bill reforming the anti-money laundering (AML) Whistleblower Program. According to estimates by the CBO, the bill could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over the next decade.
H.R. 7195 addresses current deficiencies in the law which established the AML Whistleblower Program, a whistleblower award program aimed at incentivizing individuals with first-hand knowledge of money laundering to come forward and cooperate with U.S. authorities. However, the law’s deficiencies, most notably the lack of a mandatory award minimum and the reliance on congressional appropriations to pay awards, has undermined the program.
H.R. 7195, which is cosponsored by Representatives Alma Adams (D-NC) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), addresses these deficiencies by incorporating language found in other successful whistleblower award laws such as the Dodd-Frank Act. The bill entitles qualified whistleblowers to awards of 10-30% of the funds collected in the enforcement action aided by their disclosure and establishes a fund to finance the payment of whistleblower awards.
On June 22, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services voted unanimously by voice to approve H.R. 7195. A companion version of the bill in the U.S. Senate is cosponsored by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
In its summary of H.R. 7195, the CBO explains...
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