A bipartisan group of lawmakers cleared a major hurdle this week to advance what they call the most significant revision to America’s anti-money laundering laws in 20 years, the Washington Post reported. The bill, called the Enablers Act, amends the 52-year-old Bank Secrecy Act to require for the first time that trust companies, lawyers, art dealers and others investigate clients seeking to move money and assets into the American financial system. Those covered by the law, who include financial advisers and art and antiquities traders, would also be required to report suspicious activity to the Treasury Department. Real estate transactions would not be covered by the law, however. Banks are already required to vet their clients and their sources of wealth, but other American financial gatekeepers have been exempted from “due diligence rules” — a loophole long criticized by financial crime experts and international watchdogs. “Middlemen in foreign transactions should be subject to the same anti-money laundering checks as banks, and this brings us one step closer,” said Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who co-led the push to enact the Enablers Act, along with Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), and sponsored its inclusion in the defense bill. “Nobody should be able to hide behind blood money to exploit democratic institutions for their benefit.” The House Armed Services Committee voted on Wednesday to include the Enablers Act in the National Defense Authorization Act, a broad national defense policy bill that is traditionally passed by Congress every year. The voice vote fast-tracks the bill and significantly increases the likelihood it will become law, Democrat and Republican backers say.
