Bessent doubles down on 'antifa' crackdown, with stakes for banks 

• Key insight: Treasury is reiterating its leveraging of anti-money laundering and sanctions authorities in ways that could reshape bank-compliance expectations, particularly for those that do business with left-wing nonprofits.
• Quote: "We are now mobilizing some of the same tools that we have deployed against terrorists abroad to confront this emerging threat here in the homeland. Like every form of illicit finance, these networks rely on the global financial system. It is our mandate to deny terrorist groups access to those channels." —Treasury Secretary Bessent
• Forward look: Lenders may need to revisit relationships with certain politically focused nonprofit clients.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday said the department is bringing the "full weight" of its financial enforcement authority to target what the administration describes as domestic illicit political activity, using the same tools historically trained on foreign terrorist financing, building on previous efforts that scholars say have forced banks to reevaluate their relationships with politically sensitive advocacy organizations.  

In the comments, delivered to a forum organized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Bessent said Treasury will leverage the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation wing to crack down on financial networks that support political violence, denying those groups access to the financial system.

"We once understood terrorism principally as an external menace. That is no longer the world we inhabit," Bessent said. "We are now mobilizing some of the same tools that we have deployed against terrorists abroad to confront this emerging threat here in the homeland. Like every form of illicit finance, these networks rely on the global financial system. It is our mandate to deny terrorist groups access to those channels."

Bessent also warned that charities and nonprofit organizations could face greater scrutiny, saying the Treasury is examining whether tax-exempt organizations have been used to facilitate shadowy finance or foreign influence. He said the department would pursue organizations and their officers and "identify illicit funding, however artfully it is concealed."

"We are examining where tax-exempt status has been exploited, which charitable entities have become financial conduits for foreign-influence activity, and how those entrusted with stewardship of these organizations have instead enabled violence," Bessent said. "And, of course, we will hold these organizations' officers and directors accountable.

"Just as financial institutions must know their clients; they must know their grantees."

Bessent's comments come as the administration continues its scrutiny of organizations it alleges support illegal left-wing activity, a campaign that some legal experts say could prompt banks to reevaluate relationships with nonprofit clients. 

In some cases, those that assist nonprofits with certain compliance challenges say banks may opt to quietly exit the nonprofit-banking space altogether rather than comb through client lists to make case-by-case decisions. This comes even as a number of Republicans, including the president, criticized alleged "debanking" of conservatives under prior administrations.

Regulation and compliance

Banks weigh 'contradictory' orders on antifa, debanking

October 22, 2025 6:00 AM

By Ebrima Santos Sanneh

The remarks build on President Trump's executive order that directed all relevant federal agencies, including the Treasury, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, to "investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations" linked to antifa or its financial backers. The directive codifies the administration's stance that antifa is an organized criminal enterprise. Others, like President Trump's former FBI Director Christopher Wray, have called the antifascist movement more of an ideology.  

A related national security memo from Sept. 25, known as National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, sets out an executive strategy to root out coordinated campaigns of "violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self-described 'anti-fascism,'" that the administration says foment violence and intimidation. Among other things, NSPM-7 directs the Treasury to issue guidance to banks for filing suspicious activity reports and investigating potential illicit funding streams of offending groups or individuals. 

In October 2025, Carleton Goss, a former attorney with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth, told American Banker banks likely need to take a cautious approach to complying with the administration's directives. 

"The first thing banks need to do is identify [violence or illegal conduct] if it's there. The second thing they need to do is file a SAR on it and then the third thing they need to think about is, 'do we need to restrict activities in any way, or do we need to freeze accounts?'" Goss said last fall. "Perhaps you don't have to terminate a client to effectively terminate a client, if you freeze all their accounts."