Reported by: JON SHAZAR

Given just how often banks get in trouble for fucking them up, over and over and over again, it seems like a real pain-in-the-ass to have to file suspicious activity reports. I mean, really, is it all that suspicious when a future president and his family have money pouring in from—let’s just say for arguments’ sake—Russian gangsters connected to that country’s president? Who can say? Certainly not Deutsche Bank’s leaders at the time. So you can certainly see why lawyers—to say nothing of accountants and private-equity firms—would not want to have to make the same calls as banks.

But these officers of the court have higher-minded reasons than laziness and ass-covering to wish to avoid facing the same SAR rules as banks, such as might be imposed by a revived version of the anti-money-laundering legislation known as the Enablers Act.

Requiring lawyers to report suspicious transactions by their clients also could undermine attorney-client privilege, the [American Bar Association] argued in their resolution. 

Read full report: https://dealbreaker.com/.amp/2023/02/making-lawyers-file-suspicious-activity-reports-would-lead-to-more-suspicious-activity-end-of-rule-of-law-and-civilization-generally-lawyers-say