Money laundering in the United States is investigated by several federal agencies working in parallel, with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Secret Service each handling cases tied to different underlying crimes. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network supplies the financial intelligence that drives those cases, and state attorneys general and local district attorneys prosecute laundering that stays within their borders. Which agency takes a given case usually depends on the predicate offense — the crime that generated the dirty money in the first place.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The FBI handles money laundering tied to public corruption, organized crime, health care fraud, and terrorism financing. Forensic accountants and data analysts inside its white-collar crime program trace funds through layered transactions, shell companies, and international wire transfers.1FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation. White-Collar Crime Bureau analysts also run targeted searches against Suspicious Activity Reports filed by banks, looking for patterns that point to laundering, fraud, and related schemes.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Combating Money Laundering and Other Forms of Illicit Finance
Drug Enforcement Administration
The DEA focuses on the financial infrastructure behind narcotics trafficking. Agents follow cash from street-level sales through the banking system to international cartels, aiming to cut off the money that keeps drug organizations running. Asset forfeiture is a core tool here, used to dismantle financial networks that reach from low-level couriers to cartel leadership.3United States Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA Asset Forfeiture
Homeland Security Investigations
Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, specializes in trade-based money laundering and cross-border financial crime. One common tactic HSI targets is invoice manipulation: criminal organizations inflate or deflate the declared value of goods so that value moves across borders without triggering traditional financial reporting.4U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Trade Transparency The agency’s Cornerstone initiative works to detect vulnerabilities in the financial, trade, and transportation sectors that criminals exploit to move illicit proceeds.5U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). HSI Cornerstone
U.S. Secret Service
The Secret Service investigates money laundering that grows out of financial institution fraud, access device fraud (including credit and debit card schemes), and identity theft. Federal law expanded the agency’s mission beyond counterfeiting during the 1980s and 1990s to cover these broader financial crimes.6Secret Service. Financial Investigations Because laundering typically rides alongside those underlying offenses, Secret Service agents often build parallel money laundering cases while working the fraud itself.
IRS Criminal Investigation
IRS Criminal Investigation is the federal government’s primary agency for tax-related financial crimes, and that mandate reaches directly into money laundering. The division employs roughly 2,100 special agents whose jurisdiction covers tax fraud, laundering, and Bank Secrecy Act violations. IRS CI is the only federal agency authorized to investigate potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code, which gives it a unique ability to pull tax returns and bank records to find hidden income.7Internal Revenue Service. Criminal Investigation (CI) at a Glance Proving that someone tried to hide income from the government is often the step that unlocks a broader case for fraud, laundering, or reporting violations.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
FinCEN sits inside the Treasury Department and does not make arrests. It functions as an intelligence hub, collecting and analyzing the financial reports that banks and other institutions are required to file under the Bank Secrecy Act.8Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Overview By mining millions of records, FinCEN identifies suspicious accounts and emerging laundering methods, then passes that intelligence to field agents at the FBI, DEA, IRS, and the other agencies that bring cases. FinCEN also runs a whistleblower program that offers financial incentives and protections to people who report violations of Bank Secrecy Act requirements.9Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Whistleblower Program
How Investigators Get Their Leads
Much of what agents work from begins as a mandatory filing. The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions to file a Currency Transaction Report for any cash transaction exceeding $10,000 in a single business day. Banks must also file Suspicious Activity Reports when they detect behavior that may indicate laundering, tax evasion, or other crimes, even when the amount falls below the $10,000 threshold.10Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The Bank Secrecy Act
The specific thresholds for a mandatory SAR filing depend on the circumstances. A bank must file a SAR for any insider abuse regardless of amount. For other suspected criminal violations, the threshold is $5,000 when a possible suspect can be identified, or $25,000 when no suspect is identified. Transactions involving $5,000 or more that appear designed to hide illegal funds or evade Bank Secrecy Act rules also require a SAR.11eCFR. Suspicious Activity Reports
Banks are not the only reporters. Any trade or business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in a single transaction, or in a series of related transactions, must file IRS Form 8300. That obligation covers car dealers, jewelers, real estate agents, attorneys, and many other businesses.12Internal Revenue Service. Form 8300 and Reporting Cash Payments of Over $10,000 Money services businesses, including check cashers, money transmitters, and most cryptocurrency exchangers, must register with FinCEN, run a written anti-money laundering program, and file SARs for suspicious transactions involving $2,000 or more.13Internal Revenue Service. Money Services Business (MSB) Information Center These reports create the paper trail that investigators follow.
State Attorneys General and Local Prosecutors
Not every laundering case belongs to the federal government. State and local authorities handle cases that primarily affect their communities, especially when the dollar amounts do not reach federal thresholds or when the underlying crime is a state-level offense. State attorneys general and local district attorneys maintain specialized white-collar crime units that prosecute financial misconduct tied to gambling operations, retail fraud, and local drug distribution.
Maximum prison sentences for state money laundering convictions vary widely, typically ranging from about 2 to 15 years depending on the state and the amount involved. Most states also authorize their own asset forfeiture proceedings, though the rules differ considerably. Local police often work with state financial regulators to monitor licensed businesses that may be fronts for laundering, since converting cash from illegal sources into apparently legitimate revenue is a common pattern.
Task Forces That Pool Agencies Together
Because laundering routinely crosses jurisdictional lines, some of the most effective enforcement happens through structured partnerships. The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces program is the centerpiece of the federal strategy against transnational organized crime and major drug trafficking networks. It brings together prosecutors and agents from the DEA, FBI, IRS, HSI, ATF, Secret Service, Postal Inspection Service, and state and local police. With over 500 federal prosecutors and thousands of agents, OCDETF runs long-term investigations aimed at the leadership and financial infrastructure of criminal organizations rather than individual transactions.14U.S. Department of Justice. About OCDETF The FBI participates actively to disrupt organizations that launder drug proceeds through the U.S. financial system.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Combating Money Laundering and Other Forms of Illicit Finance
At the federal forfeiture level, state and local agencies that participate in federal cases can receive a share of the proceeds through the Equitable Sharing Program, up to 80% in some cases. That arrangement creates a financial incentive for local law enforcement to join federal investigations.
International Partners
Laundering schemes routinely move money through multiple countries to obscure its origins, so U.S. agencies rely on international cooperation. The Financial Action Task Force, organized by the G7 in 1989, is the international standard-setting body for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules. It develops recommendations that member countries are expected to adopt into their domestic laws.15U.S. Department of the Treasury. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) The FATF maintains a “grey list” of jurisdictions under increased monitoring for weak anti-money laundering controls, which as of February 2026 includes more than 20 countries. Placement on that list signals to the global financial community that transactions involving the listed jurisdiction carry higher risk.16FATF. Black and Grey Lists
The Egmont Group is a separate international network made up of Financial Intelligence Units, the national-level agencies like FinCEN that collect and analyze financial transaction data. The network lets member countries share intelligence securely, coordinate training, and exchange information about suspicious financial flows that cross borders.17FinCEN.gov. The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units
Which Agency Handles a Given Case
In practice, the predicate offense usually decides which agency takes the lead. Drug proceeds pull in the DEA. Fraud against banks or credit card networks pulls in the Secret Service. Trade-based schemes and smuggling pull in HSI. Public corruption, organized crime, and terrorism financing pull in the FBI. Anything with a tax angle or a Bank Secrecy Act violation at its center pulls in IRS Criminal Investigation. FinCEN runs underneath all of them, feeding financial intelligence to the investigators who make the arrests. When a case touches more than one of these lanes, which happens often, the agencies work it jointly, frequently under an OCDETF umbrella or alongside state prosecutors who hold their own charges in reserve.