On January 24, Reuters reported that a whistleblower filed a complaint with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit, or FinCEN, alleging Visa and Mastercard had failed to stop payment networks from laundering money from child sexual abuse material and sex trafficking on the porn-centric creator platform, OnlyFans.

According to Reuters and CBS, the whistleblower filed the complaint in January 2023 with FinCEN and Homeland Security departments.

The complaint alleges the whistleblower and other anti-trafficking experts (including U.S. federal agents) notified Visa and Mastercard about the unlawful content on OnlyFans via calls in 2021 and 2022. The complaint also explained that the federal agents confirmed child sexual abuse material was present on OnlyFans.

Reuters stated that the whistleblower, a senior compliance expert in the credit card and banking industries, claimed the two card companies knowingly “turn[ed] a blind eye to flows of illicit revenue.” The whistleblower said that since approximately 2021, the companies knew their networks were used to pay for illegal content on OnlyFans

The whistleblower alleged that as Visa and Mastercard continued to process payments on OnlyFans, the card companies “willfully failed” to uphold anti-money laundering (AML) programs required by the Bank Secrecy Act. The whistleblower called upon FinCEN and the two federal agencies to act against the card companies.

Reuters and CBS News reached out to FinCEN for comment but received similar responses. FinCEN said it does not comment on whistleblower submissions to its program, “including whether FinCEN has received submissions regarding a specific financial institution.”

Such compliance issues and allegations regarding Mastercard and Visa are not brand-new developments. In 2022, Buzzfeed News investigated how the card companies “continue to accommodate thousands of businesses that have been flagged for issues including lying to customers, lying to banks, and breaking the law.”

Marlene Koury, partner at Constantine Cannon, said: “It is critical to report any unlawful money laundering activity to FinCEN and other government regulators. Continual failures in financial institutions account for many of the whistleblower cases we handle. Government agencies are clamping down to act against companies who fail to comply with AML requirements under the BSA.”

If you decide to blow the whistle, you could be eligible for rewards associated with reporting violations of AML laws and regulations. If you believe you have information on AML violations or want to learn more about what it means to be a whistleblower, please contact us. We will connect you with an experienced member of the Constantine Cannon whistleblower team for a free and confidential consult.

Read Alleged AML failures at Visa and Mastercard: Card Companies Accused of Processing Payments for Child Sexual Abuse Content at constantinecannon.com