Federal law enforcement has been exploiting the the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) system to access and surveil Americans’ private financial data without warrants or probable cause, according to the House Judiciary Committee.
The committee and its Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released an interim report Friday claiming the FBI “manipulated” the SAR filing process by pressuring banks to file reports on individuals the FBI deemed “suspicious.”
“Documents show that federal law enforcement increasingly works hand-in-glove with financial institutions, obtaining virtually unchecked access to private financial data and testing out new methods and new technology to continue the financial surveillance of American citizens,” the report reads.
𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐩𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐬
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) December 6, 2024
Think your finances are private? Think again.https://t.co/lXWqUB5iPZ pic.twitter.com/MdG3fZTR7j
The oversight committee accused the FBI of circumventing the Bank Secrecy Act, which “contravened the Fourth Amendment’s requirements of particularity and probable cause.”
“With narrow exception, federal law does not permit law enforcement to inquire into financial institutions’ customer information without some form of legal process,” the report states.
“The FBI circumvents this process by tipping off financial institutions to ‘suspicious’ individuals and encouraging these institutions to file a SAR — which does not require any legal process — and thereby provide federal law enforcement with access to confidential and highly sensitive information.”
The committee added these “financial surveillance” revelations have shed “new light on the decaying state of Americans’ financial privacy and the federal government’s widespread, warrantless surveillance programs.”
The FBI downplayed the committee’s report in a statement to Fox News on Friday, claiming its financial surveillance activities against the American people were conducted lawfully.
“While we have no comment on the report, as a general matter the FBI frequently receives information from the private sector about possible criminal activity. Financial institutions are required under the Bank Secrecy Act to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) on activity they deem reportable, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shares the information with law enforcement,” the bureau stated.
“The FBI cannot open an investigation without evidence of a federal criminal violation or a threat to national security. We follow the law and the facts, and we never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment activity.”
The committee first launched its investigation last summer after a whistleblower revealed that in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 riots, the Bank of America “voluntarily and without legal process” turned over to the FBI a list of individuals who used credit or debit cards in Washington, D.C. during that event.
Read the report: