Court upholds FinCEN’s anti-money laundering rule for home sales
A
U.S.
District
Court
judge
in
Jacksonville,
Fla.,
announced
her
decision
to
uphold
FINCEN’s
anti-money
laundering
rule
for
homes
sales
and
instructed
the
clerk
to
terminate
all
pending
motions
and
close
the
case.
In
a
ruling
issued
on
Thursday,
the
judge
adopted
a
magistrate
judge’s
report
and
recommendations,
granting
the
Financial
Crime
Enforcement
Network’s
(FinCEN)
cross
motion
for
summary
judgement
in
the
lawsuit
filed
by
Fidelity
National
Financial
(FNF)
regarding
FinCEN’s
Anti-Money
Laundering
Regulations
for
Residential
Real
Estate
Transfers
Rule.
Filed
in
May
2025,
the
lawsuit
lists
FinCEN
and
its
director
Andrea
Gacki,
as
well
as
the
Department
of
the
Treasury
and
its
secretary
Scott
Bessent,
as
defendants.
In
the
lawsuit,
FNF
claims
that
the
rule,
which
was
promulgated
under
the
Biden
administration,
is
“arbitrary
and
capricious,”
and
that
the
rule
will
cause
“irreparable
harm.”
The
rule
requires
title
firms
to
report
specific
details
on
all-cash
home
purchase
transactions.
These
include
the
names,
addresses,
dates
of
birth,
citizenship
status
and
ID
numbers
of
all
people
involved
—
including
minors,
payment
details
and
information
about
trusts
and
entities
that
are
purchasing
the
property.
In
early
December,
Magistrate
Judge
Samuel
Horovitz
filed
a
report
in
which
he
recommended
that
the
court
grant
FinCEN’s
cross-motion
for
summary
judgment,
which
would
result
in
the
AML
Rule
being
upheld.
FNF
filed
an
objection
to
this
report
in
late
December.
Judge
Berger
ultimately
agreed
with
Magistrate
Judge
Horovitz
and
supported
FinCEN’s
argument
that
the
rule
“was
statutorily
authorized
by
the
Bank
Secrecy
Act,”
and
that
the
rule
was
the
result
of
“reasoned
decision-making
by
FinCEN.”
The
rule
was
slated
to
go
into
effect
in
December
2025,
but
in
late
September,
FinCEN
announced
it
was
postponing
the
implementation
of
the
policy
from
Dec.
1,
2025,
to
March
1,
2026.
At
the
time,
FinCEN
said
the
decision
was
made
to
“reduce
business
burden
and
ensure
effective
regulation.”
FNF
did
not
return
HousingWire’s
request
for
comment
on
the
ruling.
