IRS Criminal Investigation Uncovers Approx. $10 Billion Worth of FinCrime

IRS-CI FY 2021 highlighted $2.19 billion in tax fraud, $8.18 billion in financial crimes, 1497 warrants, and an 89.4 % conviction rate. 

The International Revenue Systems Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) released a report on Nov 18 stating significant criminal investigations from the IRS-CI, statistics, and important partnerships for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. The report covers frequent money laundering techniques, for instance, currency report manipulation, transaction layering, and the international movement of funds. 

The report highlights, “over 2500 criminal investigations, the identification of more than USD 10 billion from tax fraud and financial crimes, and a nearly 90% conviction rate”. The reports FY started on Oct 1, 2020, and ended on Sep 30, 2021. 

#AnnualReportFacts: IRS Criminal Investigation is the only federal law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over federal tax crimes. In 2021, CI Initiated over 2,500 criminal investigations with 72% focused on tax-related crimes. #IRS pic.twitter.com/0Q1fsJp5KN

— IRS Criminal Investigation (@IRS_CI) November 19, 2021

The IRS-CI agency collaborated with the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) to help financial institutions strengthen public-private partnerships, and the FinTech industry to identify and combat criminal activities. The agency further established its first cyber attaché to support cyber investigative needs in coordination with Europol in The Hague, Netherlands. 

The IRS-CI chief, Jim Lee, stated, “IRS-CI continues to lead tax and financial investigations in the U.S and across the globe, and In the FY 2021, as we faced the second year of the pandemic, our team of agents continued to overcome personal and professional challenges to target criminal who exploited the U.S. tax and financial systems for personal gain”. 

The IRS-CI agents have spent significant time investigating on money laundering, narcotics trafficking, corruption, terrorism, and Covid-related frauds. 

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