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"Whistleblowers said the Americans (in US Treasury Department officials) were sending information to unsecure Gmail accounts set up by their Russian counterparts as the (2016) US election heated up."
"US Treasury Department officials used a Gmail back channel with the Russian government as the Kremlin sought sensitive financial information on its enemies in America and across the globe, according to documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News."
"Russian agents...pressed their American counterparts for private financial documents on at least two dozen dissidents, academics, private investigators, and American citizens."
buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/anthon…
buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/anthon…
""They suspected that the Russian agency making the requests, called Rosfinmonitoring, set up by Putin in 2001 to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, was closely tied to Russia’s espionage apparatus.
“They are passing information that may have interest to the Russians for other reasons,” a FinCEN official wrote to colleagues in March 2017. “One has to wonder what the heck is going on here.” This official filed for whistleblower protection and quit last year.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, a powerful unit of the Treasury Department with exclusive access to the most comprehensive and sophisticated financial database in the world.
“If you are a Russian government entity and you are communicating with Americans, you have an FSB officer sitting right next to you and that officer is probably sending the email.”"
🚨▶Very interesting that division is created between
OIA and FinCEN.
Sounds like Russian Active Measures?
@JasonLeopold ?
Turf war suspicious?
Divide and conquer.
This is a great investigation so far, hope you will continue!
OIA and FinCEN.
Sounds like Russian Active Measures?
@JasonLeopold ?
Turf war suspicious?
Divide and conquer.
This is a great investigation so far, hope you will continue!
"Turf war
The unit of Treasury that monitors suspicious bank transactions outside the US is called the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, a sister unit of the terror department that had struck the deal with the Russians."
The unit of Treasury that monitors suspicious bank transactions outside the US is called the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, a sister unit of the terror department that had struck the deal with the Russians."
"Now, by the fall of 2016, the OIA wanted more authority over FinCEN’s vast database of suspicious financial transactions across the globe."
"The divide grew, and made its way to Congress, where Republican Steve Pearce, chair of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, demanded answers.
The Treasury Department’s inspector general stepped in again to investigate, and concluded that OIA had done nothing wrong — though he did acknowledge the strained relationship between OIA and FinCEN.
The whistleblowers told BuzzFeed News they have largely given up on seeing anyone at FinCEN, OIA, and TFFC held accountable for the chaos that they say has torn the Treasury apart over the past two years."
Oct 2018
