FEND Off Fentanyl Act and FinCEN Section 9714 measures (2024)

The FEND Off Fentanyl Act, enacted on 24 April 2024 within Public Law 118-50, added an order-based authority for special measures connected to illicit opioid trafficking at 21 USC 2313a. Section 9714 of the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act, as amended, provides a separate authority concerning Russian illicit finance. Both draw on the Section 311 special measures, but they do not make all Section 311 findings or procedures interchangeable.

Provisions

Section 2313a(a) covers foreign financial institutions, classes of transactions within or involving a foreign jurisdiction, and types of accounts within or involving a foreign jurisdiction. It does not list a foreign jurisdiction itself as a separate target category. Upon the required reasonable-grounds finding connected to illicit opioid trafficking, Treasury may impose the referenced special measures or specified restrictions on transmittals of funds by order, regulation or otherwise as permitted by law. Section 9714(a) uses the corresponding Russian-illicit-finance connection. Each authority requires its own finding and operative measure. 21 USC 2313a; Section 9714 statutory note.

Classic Section 311 already permits its first four special measures by regulation, order or other lawful means. Under 31 USC 5318A(a)(3), an order imposing those measures, other than the specified section 5326 exception, must accompany a proposed rule and cannot continue beyond 120 days without a rule. Its fifth special measure requires regulation. The later order-based authorities therefore do not represent the first availability of orders in this field. Neither their legal form nor their availability alone establishes actual enforcement speed or the adequacy of procedural protection. 31 USC 5318A(a)(2) and (3).

Employment history

Section 9714 fired first. FinCEN's January 2023 order against the virtual currency exchange Bitzlato, tied by FinCEN to Russian darknet-market flows including Hydra, was the authority's first use, prohibiting transmittals of funds involving the exchange; a September 2024 order against the exchanger PM2BTC followed. The fentanyl authority's first use came on 25 June 2025, when FinCEN issued separate orders against CIBanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa. FinCEN found each institution to be of primary money laundering concern in connection with illicit opioid trafficking and prohibited covered US financial institutions from specified transmittals involving it. The three orders took effect on 20 October 2025 after two extensions. FinCEN later amended only the CIBanco order, effective 16 April 2026, to permit defined transfers necessary to liquidate that institution while leaving the order's other provisions in place.

Effects

The Mexican examples must distinguish the agency finding, operative order and effective date; the statutory form alone does not measure enforcement speed. FinCEN issued findings concerning CIBanco, Intercam and Vector under 21 USC 2313a; those findings are agency determinations, not judgments proving every alleged transaction. Section 9714 remains a distinct Russia-focused authority, and neither authority is the same as section 311. FinCEN's 15 April 2026 CIBanco amendment permitted specified wind-down transfers and changed that order's operative scope without withdrawing the underlying finding.

The operative order and effective date must therefore be stated for each named institution rather than inferred from the statutory finding alone.

See also

USA PATRIOT Act Section 311 (2001) · Banco Delta Asia Section 311 action (2005-2007) · Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) · Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (1999) · Correspondent-account closure · Compliance cascade · Financial warfare · Economic statecraft

Sources

• 21 USC 2313a, accessed 30 July 2026.
• FinCEN's 2025 section 2313a orders, accessed 30 July 2026.
• FinCEN extension of all three orders to 20 October 2025, accessed 30 July 2026.
• FinCEN CIBanco amendment, 15 April 2026, accessed 30 July 2026.
• FinCEN Year in Review, accessed 30 July 2026.

• United States, United States Code, 2024 edition, 21 USC 2313a, subsection (a), and 31 USC 5318A, subsections (a)(2) and (3) and Section 9714 note, retained official full text checked 27 October 2026. This bounded statutory comparison does not revalidate every current order or later amendment.