Feds suggested banks search transactions for terms like 'Biden,' 'Antifa' and more after Jan 6: sources

 : Federal investigators suggested banks search private financial transactions using words beyond "Trump" and "MAGA" after January 6, 2021. Additional suggested words include "Biden," "Kamala," "Antifa" and more, sources familiar told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reported Wednesday that the Treasury Department's Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, distributed materials to financial institutions that outlined a "typology" of "various persons of interest" and Provides. "Banks with suggested search terms and merchant category codes for identifying transactions on behalf of federal law enforcement."

Sources familiar told Fox News Digital on Thursday that search terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” were coined by a bank and used to help them identify suspicious transactions when reviewing customer transaction information. used to go. It is unclear which bank generated the search terms.

FinCEN shared those terms with other banks to help those financial institutions comply with their own suspicious activity reports, the sources said.

But beyond the terms identified by the House Judiciary Committee, the unnamed bank prepared other terms, which FinCEN shared with other banks, sources told Fox News Digital.

The source said additional search terms included: "White Power," "Camp Auschwitz," "Antifa," "Proud B," "Storm, The," "Capital," "Gropper Army," "Thrippers," " Boogaloo," "Civil War," "Last Son," "kill," "shoot," "gun," "death," "murder," "Biden," "Kamala," "Pelosi," "Schumer" and " Pence."

Sources said the distribution of search terms including "MAGA" and "Trump" began after January 6, 2021, in the final weeks of the Trump administration.

The initials "MAGA" and "Trump" were revealed in a letter sent by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to a former FinCEN director. Fox News Digital first reported on the letter.

The Committee's investigation also revealed that FinCEN distributed slides prepared by Key Bank to explain to other banks how they could use Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) to locate customers whose Transactions "may reflect potential active shooters, and may include dangerous international terrorists/domestic terrorists/domestic violence extremists ('Lone Wolves')."

Jordan said Slide financial institutions were able to track transactions using certain MCC codes such as "3484: Small Arms," "5091: Sporting and Recreational Goods and Supplies," and the keywords "Cabelas," "Dick's Sporting Goods" and "Bass Pro." Instructs to query for. Shops,” among others.

The bank declined to comment.

Dick's Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

A source familiar with documents held by the House Judiciary Committee told Fox News Digital that while the January 6, 2021, request was "the impetus" for the questions and searches, none of the documents obtained by the committee referred to any specific deadlines or limitations. Does not disclose. For banks searching for customer transactions with conditions. The source said the federal government used the information to investigate after January 6.

It is unclear whether these terms are still being used by banks to search for private transactions.

Jordan wrote, "Despite there being no apparent criminal nexus in these transactions – and indeed, concerning Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights – it appears that FinCEN has identified these Americans as potential threat actors." Is portrayed as." “Such broad financial surveillance of Americans' private transactions, conducted at the request of and in coordination with federal law enforcement, is worrying and raises serious doubts about FinCEN's respect for fundamental freedoms.”

Meanwhile, in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday and obtained by Fox News Digital, Jordan requested a written interview with the senior private sector partner for outreach in the Strategic Partner Engagement section at the FBI.

Jordan said the committee received testimony that Bank of America provided the FBI "voluntarily and without due process" with a list of individuals who used Bank of America credit or debit cards between January 1 and 2 in Washington, D.C. .C., the transaction was done in the metropolitan area. , January 5 and 7, 2021.

Fox News Digital first reported on that part of the committee's investigation last year. In November Bank of America said the bank "followed all applicable laws" in its negotiations with the government. The bank noted that the Treasury Department on January 15, 2021 "shared information about potential criminal activity that could disrupt the upcoming inauguration."

"We have cooperated with the committee as they evaluate whether the laws with which we have complied should be changed," Bank of America said Wednesday.

But in Wednesday's letter, Jordan said that when that list was later brought to the FBI's attention, Steve Jensen, the former section chief of the Domestic Terrorism Operations Section, took on the task of "pulling" the Bank of America information from the FBI system. Did so because "the lead lacked allegations of federal criminal conduct."

Ordon said the committees obtained documents showing that FBI personnel "contacted Bank of America and provided Bank of America with specific search query terms indicating that it was located in Washington, D.C." BOA customers who transacted in the U.S. and were interested in 'all financial relationships' of such customers, 'any historical purchase' of a firearm, or who purchased hotel, AirBnB, or airline travel within a certain date range."

Jordan is requesting that the former FinCEN official and an FBI official appear before his committee and the weapons subcommittee for written interviews to assist in the panel's oversight investigation.