On November 19, a coalition of whistleblower advocacy groups sent a letter to Congress urging for the inclusion of S.Amendment.4437 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment, introduced by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), makes fixes to the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AML Act). The Act established a whistleblower reward system for individuals who report money laundering but has been criticized by whistleblower advocates as lacking key aspects of successful whistleblower reward laws.
The letter, which was signed by National Whistleblower Center, Taxpayers Against Fraud, Government Accountability Project, and Project On Government Oversight, states that “money laundering is one of the most dangerous criminal activities, used for terrorist financing, human trafficking, hiding drug money, and for tax evasion. By its very nature, it is designed to be secret. Consequently, incentivizing whistleblowers to report anti-money laundering violations is critical for America’s anti corruption efforts.”
The two issues with the AML Act that S.Amendment.4437 addresses are the lack of a mandatory minimum for whistleblower awards and the lack of a fund to finance whistleblower awards. Whistleblower advocates claim that these two deficiencies are undermining the money laundering whistleblower program.
Unlike all other modern whistleblower laws, including the False Claims Act and Dodd-Frank Act, the AML Act does not guarantee a minimum award payment to qualified...
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