Catherine Cortez Masto—CWAG Chair

CWAG Chair Initiative  Anti Money Laundering Private/Public Partnership

Each year the Chair of the organization selects a topic of specific interest for CWAG to address on a national level. CWAG has spent the past six years working with the Governments of Mexico and the United States to enhance the Rule of Law in Mexico. As such, the Attorneys General have recognized the issue of money laundering as viewed threw a lens of fighting Transnational Organized Crime, and specifically Mexican Cartels.

Organized crime deals in illegal drugs, arms, counterfeit goods, humans and many other illicit activities. While these groups deal in a wide variety of crimes, they have one thing in common: money laundering.

The illegal criminal of these cartels presents a tremendous opportunity for law enforcement and the private sector to work together. Both the U.S. and Mexico have instituted strong anti-money laundering regime. The State Attorneys General propose to move forward with the enforcement of these statutes hand-in-hand with private sector financial institutions and corporations as equal partners in an endeavor to supplement the work occurring on federal levels in the U.S. and Mexico.

While federal law prohibits money laundering, as with any system, there are limited resources to pursue money laundering cases. In addition, local law enforcement agencies have stronger ties to the community and, if legally capable and properly trained, can identify money laundering and related organized criminal activity. While it is true federal authorities are able to pursue money laundering cases and do, the current anti-money laundering regime has holes. We would invite the private sector to work with local and state governments to provide a seamless network of preemptive efforts which thwart organized crime.

On behalf of the Western Attorneys General we invite the private sector to provide information and input by way of a Public-Private Anti Money Laundering communications network. By sharing information and coordinating activities, both business and law enforcement will limit common money laundering methods and be more ready to adapt to new money laundering schemes.