Title 12Banks and BankingRelease 119-73

§1772d Forfeiture of organization certificate for money laundering or cash transaction reporting offenses

Title 12 › Chapter CHAPTER 14— - FEDERAL CREDIT UNIONS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 1772d

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

If a credit union is convicted of certain money‑laundering crimes (18 U.S.C. 1956 or 1957), the Attorney General must send the Board a written notice and a certified copy of the conviction. After that notice the Board must tell the credit union it plans to end the credit union’s rights and set a pretermination hearing. If the credit union is convicted of certain cash‑reporting crimes (31 U.S.C. 5322 or 5324) after the Attorney General’s notice, the Board may do the same. Section 1786(j) also applies to these proceedings. When deciding whether to end the charter, the Board will look at what leaders knew or did, whether the credit union had prevention rules that failed, how much it cooperated with law enforcement, whether it added better controls since the crime, and whether closing would hurt local banking services. If someone takes over the credit union in good faith and not to evade the rule, the rule does not apply to that successor.

Full Legal Text

Title 12, §1772d

Banks and Banking — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)(A)If a credit union has been convicted of any criminal offense under section 1956 or 1957 of title 18, the Attorney General shall provide to the Board a written notification of the conviction and shall include a certified copy of the order of conviction from the court rendering the decision.
(B)After receiving written notification from the Attorney General of such a conviction, the Board shall issue to such credit union a notice of its intention to terminate all rights, privileges, and franchises of the credit union and schedule a pretermination hearing.
(2)If a credit union is convicted of any criminal offense under section 5322 or 5324 of title 31 after receiving written notification from the Attorney General, the Board may issue to such credit union a notice of its intention to terminate all rights, privileges, and franchises of the credit union and schedule a pretermination hearing.
(3)section 1786(j) of this title shall apply to any proceeding under this section.
(b)In determining whether a franchise shall be forfeited under subsection (a), the Board shall take into account the following factors:
(1)The extent to which directors, committee members, or senior executive officers (as defined by the Board in regulations which the Board shall prescribe) of the credit union knew of, or were involved in, the commission of the money laundering offense of which the credit union was found guilty.
(2)The extent to which the offense occurred despite the existence of policies and procedures within the credit union which were designed to prevent the occurrence of any such offense.
(3)The extent to which the credit union has fully cooperated with law enforcement authorities with respect to the investigation of the money laundering offense of which the credit union was found guilty.
(4)The extent to which the credit union has implemented additional internal controls (since the commission of the offense of which the credit union was found guilty) to prevent the occurrence of any other money laundering offense.
(5)The extent to which the interest of the local community in having adequate deposit and credit services available would be threatened by the forfeiture of the franchise.
(c)This section shall not apply to a successor to the interests of, or a person who acquires, a credit union that violated a provision of law described in subsection (a), if the successor succeeds to the interests of the violator, or the acquisition is made, in good faith and not for purposes of evading this section or regulations prescribed under this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 103–325 substituted “section 5322 or 5324 of title 31” for “section 5322 of title 31”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

12 U.S.C. § 1772d

Title 12Banks and Banking

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73