The data of the Ministry of Finance's anti-money laundering divisions, which were at the disposal of journalists, contain information on suspicious transfers totaling more than $ 2 trillion. Among them are transactions by members of the Russian Forbes list, ex-head of Yeltsin's administration Valentin Yumashev and cellist Sergei Roldugin. to combat financial crimes (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FinCEN). It is a division of the US Treasury Department that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions to counter terrorist financing and money laundering. ICIJ partners, the publication "Important Stories", got access to the FinCEN database from Russian media. What has leaked BuzzFeed News reporters gained access to more than 2,100 FinCEN classified files back in 2017. This department receives data on suspicious transactions of American banks, as well as foreign banks that have correspondent accounts with US credit institutions (the bank must have such accounts in order to conduct transactions in US currency). FinCEN collects information from banks about the so-called SAR (suspicious activity reports) - reports on suspicious transactions. It was to them that the journalists got access. We are talking about reports of such large banks as JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and others. The bank may consider transactions as suspicious when one of the counterparties is registered in an offshore zone, is on sanctions lists, is mentioned in negative publications in the media, etc. .d. Having a suspicious transaction report does not necessarily mean that the transaction was related to money laundering. To analyze the leak, BuzzFeed reached out to ICIJ. As a result, more than 400 reporters from almost 90 countries worked on the investigation based on these documents, among the partner publications - French Le Monde, German Sueddeutsche Zeitung, British BBC, Italian L'Espresso and many others. BuzzFeed News did not disclose the name of the source who provided the publication with the files, but in January 2020, as "Important Stories" reminds, former senior FinCEN employee Natalie Edwards pleaded guilty to transferring data to journalists. She is now awaiting a court verdict. In total, transactions cover more than 130 countries. There are suspicious transactions from Russia. Russian footages Among the reports of suspicious transactions FinCEN, which were at the disposal of journalists - information about the receipt by Sandalwood Continental, associated with cellist Sergei Roldugin, whom Vladimir Putin called his friend, $ 830,000 from the Cypriot company Dulston Ventures. The basis of the payment states that this is a fee for extending the loan agreement. Dulston is on the list of affiliates of several Russian companies that are part of Alexei Mordashov's Severgroup, indicate "Important stories". Another Russia-related transaction from FinCEN reports is the receipt by the adviser of the Russian president on a voluntary basis, Valentin Yumashev (son-in-law of the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the ex-head of his administration), $ 6 million from Epion Holdings Limited from the British Virgin Islands, owned by Alisher Usmanov. According to FinCEN's suspicious transaction reports, the money was transferred under a service agreement in 2006-2008. Usmanov and Yumashev did not answer the questions of the publication, the Kremlin press service indicated that the question relates to personal and commercial information. FinCEN documents, according to the BBC, show that in 2012-2016, Advantage Alliance, which has had an account with Barclays since 2008, carried out $ 77.5 million in transactions. The US Senate asserted in July this year that Advantage Alliance is one from companies that participated in a scheme in which billionaire brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg (since 2014, persons involved in the American SDN sanctions list) secretly bought works of art. The Senate report says the company is linked to Arkady Rotenberg. In 2016, the Advantage Alliance account at Barclays was closed, but FinCEN data shows that accounts of other companies allegedly linked to the Rothenbergs remained open until 2017. In particular, the account of Ayrton Development Limited remained open, which, according to the Barclays report received by FinCEN, in the bank was considered controlled by Arkady Rotenberg. A total of 26 suspicious transaction reports (including those that were conducted through the Rotenberg bank - SMP Bank) were in the documents at the disposal of the journalists.