⁍ Several global banks moved large sums of allegedly illicit funds over a period of nearly two decades, despite red flags about the origins of the money, BuzzFeed and other media reported on Sunday.

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⁍ The media reports were based on leaked suspicious activity reports filed by banks and other financial firms with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen)
The files contained information about more than $2 trillion worth of transactions between 1999 and 2017, which were flagged by internal compliance departments of financial institutions as suspicious.

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– A trove of confidential government documents has revealed that some of the world’s biggest banks ignored red flags about how they were handling billions of dollars linked to some of the world’s shadiest individuals and groups, according to a joint investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and BuzzFeed. The thousands of “suspicious activity reports” filed by banks with the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Enforcement Network contained information on more than $2 trillion worth of transactions between 1999 and 2017, according to the ICIJ. The documents show that in some cases the banks didn’t even report the suspicious transactions until years after they had been processed, the New York Times reports. The ICIJ says the leaked documents show that the system for fighting money laundering and other crimes is “under-resourced and overwhelmed.” “I hope these findings spur urgent action from policymakers to enact needed reforms,” Tim Adams, chief executive of the Institute of International Finance, said in a statement, per Reuters. “As noted in today’s reports, the impacts of financial crime are felt beyond just the financial sector—it poses grave threats to society as a whole.” In a statement, Deutsche Bank said the ICIJ had “reported on a number of historic issues.” The bank said it “has devoted significant resources to strengthening our controls and we are very focused on meeting our responsibilities and obligations.”