Financial Crime and Human Trafficking

Human trafficking often intersects with many other types of crime. Financial crime investigations can be used to help build trafficking cases and support criminal prosecutions that are not as dependent on victims. Financial crimes investigations can be conducted in parallel to sex trafficking or labor trafficking investigations to help identify victims, traffickers, and assets to seize, forfeit, and use toward restitution for victims. This course, developed by the IACP, in partnership with the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), highlights how financial investigations can result in additional charges beyond human trafficking and assist the prosecution of offenders at the local, state, and federal levels. Financial investigations can broaden human trafficking cases to identify additional victims and co-conspirators, corroborate victim statements, uncover additional evidence, and identify and seize funds and real properties that were derived from, facilitated, or involved in the trafficking enterprise, with the goal of holding perpetrators accountable. The evidence and corroboration can help to minimize over-reliance on victim testimony and lead to additional charges to hold offenders accountable. This course includes human trafficking case examples and statutes, including financial crimes such as money laundering. During this course, attendees can review various resources for investigations, such as collecting open-source intelligence, collaborating with intelligence centers, and using databases like FinCEN.

This online training is part of the OVC funded IACP’s Enhanced Collaborative Model Human Trafficking Task Force Training Catalog.

By the end of this course, participants will be better able to:

• Understand intersections between human trafficking and financial crime;
• Integrate financial investigations into human trafficking investigations;
• Explain how the FinCEN and the Bank Secrecy Act can be useful investigatory tools;
• Identify financial crimes that can be used to prosecute criminal networks;
• Name various methods used to launder money;
• Gather evidence that can be used to prosecute financial crimes;
• Frame investigations to prove illicit intent in business practices;
• Describe various financial indicators of human trafficking; and
• Comprehend how asset forfeiture and restitution are important for recovery.

For more information, contact IACP’s Anti-Human Trafficking Team at humantrafficking@theiacp.org.

This online training is produced by the International Association of Chiefs of Police under Cooperative Agreement #2020-VT-BX-K002, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this online training are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.