The SARs, which the reports said numbered over 2,100, were obtained by BuzzFeed News and shared with all the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and other media associations.
In all, the ICIJ reported that the documents contained information about more than $2 trillion worth of trades between 1999 and 2017, that have been flagged by internal funding departments of financial institutions as suspicious. The SARs are in themselves not automatically proof of wrongdoing, and the ICIJ reported the leaked documents were a very small fraction of the reports filed with FinCEN.
Five global banks appeared most often in the records -- HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Deutsche Bank AG, Standard Chartered Plc and Bank of New York Mellon Corp, the ICIJ reported.
The SARs provide key intelligence in global efforts to stop money laundering and other crimes. The media reports Sunday painted an image of a system that is both under-resourced and overwhelmed, allowing huge amounts of illegal funds to proceed throughout the banking system.
The ICIJ report stated in some cases the banks failed to report suspect transactions until years after they'd processed them.
The SARs also showed that banks frequently moved funds for companies which were registered in offshore havens, like the British Virgin Islands, also didn't know the ultimate owner of the accounts, the report stated. Staff at major banks frequently used Google searches to learn who was behind huge transactions, '' said.
One of the sorts of trades highlighted by the report: capital processed by JPMorgan for possibly corrupt people and businesses from Venezuela, Ukraine and Malaysia; cash from a Ponzi scheme moving through HSBC; and money linked to some Ukrainian billionaire processed by Deutsche Bank.
"I hope these findings spur barbarous action from policymakers to enact needed reforms," said Tim Adams, chief executive of the trade group Institute of International Finance, in a statement. "As mentioned in today's reports, the consequences of financial crime are felt beyond just the financial industry -- it poses grave risks to society as a whole."
In a statement to Reuters, HSBC stated"all the information provided by the ICIJ is historical." The bank stated as of 2012,"HSBC embarked on a last-minute travel to overhaul its capacity to fight financial crime across more than 60 jurisdictions."
BNY Mellon told Reuters it could not comment on specific SARs. "We fully comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and help authorities in the important work they do," the bank said.
JPMorgan said it's"thousands of individuals and countless millions of dollars committed to this important work."
In an announcement on Sunday,'' Deutsche Bank reported that the ICIJ had"reported on a number of historic troubles." "We have dedicated significant resources to strengthening our controllers and we are very focused on fulfilling our responsibilities and obligations," the bank said.
FinCen stated in an announcement on its website on Sept. 1 that it was aware that social media outlets intended to publish a series of articles based on unlawfully disclosed SARs, in addition to other documents, also said that the"unauthorized disclosure of SARs is a crime that can affect the national security of the United States."
