2001-115

Securities and Exchange Commission Request
Relating to Information Pertaining to the Terrorist Attacks

To All Securities-Related Entities:

Washington, DC, October 18, 2001 -- The Securities andExchange Commission today asked all securities-relatedentities (whether or not registered with the SEC) tocooperate voluntarily with law enforcement authorities intheir ongoing investigations in the wake of the recentterrorist attacks on this country. Over the last month,brokers, dealers, investment advisers, investment companies,transfer agents, exchanges and other self-regulatoryorganizations and industry groups have been asked to reviewtheir records and work with law enforcement officials toidentify any transactions or relationships with certainindividuals or entities that have been identified by the FBIand other law enforcement agencies. To facilitate theseefforts, we, along with other financial regulators, haveworked with law enforcement officials on a mechanism thatwill assure the expeditious distribution of a unified listof individuals and entities to a broad range of financialinstitutions. This list will be referred to as the ControlList. Because the Control List contains confidentialinformation, we ask that you disseminate the informationwithin your institution only on a need-to-know basis. Underno circumstances should the Control List or the informationcontained in it be disseminated outside your institution.

Law enforcement officials will provide the Control Listto the SEC. We will, in turn, send your institution a copyof the Control List through e-mail. We will also sendelectronic updates to the list on a regular basis.Identical Control Lists (and updates) will also bedisseminated by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York tobanking institutions and by the Commodities Futures TradingCommission to futures commission merchants. We need yourimmediate help in starting this system. We request that youdesignate a senior-level individual within your firm whoappreciates the sensitive nature of the investigation andwill exercise appropriate discretion to be the point personfor all communications relating to the Control List. Pleaseprovide this person's name, title, telephone number and,most importantly, e-mail address by Friday, October 26,2001. Please send this information to the following e-mailaddress: Enf-Search@sec.gov

Once this information is received, the Control Listwill be distributed, and your firm will be asked voluntarilyto check its records to determine whether any of theindividuals or entities on the Control List have or have hadany transactions or relationships with your firm in theUnited States or elsewhere.

If your firm identifies any transaction or relationshipwith any of the individuals or entities, you are requested tosend an e-mail message promptly to Enf-Search@sec.govindicating that you have a positive response and the natureof the information. Following that, the SEC will contactyour firm's point person and arrange for receipt of relevantaccount, trading and other information from your firm.

Please note the following:

  • Similar requests have been issued to banking institutions jointly by financial institution supervisors, and to futures commission merchants by the CFTC. To minimize the burden on those entities subject to regulation by both the SEC and the CFTC such an entity may provide responsive information for the entire entity to either the SEC or the CFTC, after notifying both agencies that it has a positive response. In the alternative, such an entity may choose instead to provide responsive information concerning a particular area of regulatory authority to the appropriate regulatory agency.

  • Some securities-related entities are affiliated with banks or similar affiliates that are subject to suspicious activity reporting requirements of bank regulators. In accordance with the suspicious activity reporting rules, those affiliates are also reminded to report any suspicious activity related to any of the names on the Control List by filing a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). If the information is time sensitive, it may also be reported through the FinCEN hotline at 1-866-556-3974 in addition to filing a written SAR.

  • This request is separate from the request issued by the SEC on September 26, concerning compliance with President Bush's September 24 executive order freezing United States assets of and blocking transactions with identified individuals and organizations. The executive order can be viewed at www.treasury.gov/terrorism.html. Questions concerning the asset freeze should be directed to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at 1-800-540-6322. Information concerning OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals List is available at www.ustreas.gov/ofac.

We thank you for all of your efforts in this mostimportant endeavor. Any questions concerning this voluntaryrequest should be directed to Enf-Search@sec.gov or (202)942-4806.