New Bipartisan Bill to Rid U.S. Art Market of Dirty Money
A statement from Transparency International U.S.
July 23, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Senators John Fetterman (D-PA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), and David McCormick (R-PA) introduced legislation to apply anti-money laundering (AML) protections to certain high-value intermediaries in the U.S. art market.
The bill—the Art Market Integrity Act—would amend the federal Bank Secrecy Act to add certain intermediaries involved in the trade of artwork, including dealers, galleries, and auction houses. By doing so, it would provide the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) with the legal authority to require covered individuals and entities to adopt certain risk-based AML safeguards, such as conducting due diligence on their clients, maintaining records, and/or reporting suspicious transactions to the Treasury.
The legislation is also risk-based itself, using dollar thresholds to exempt lower-risk intermediaries and fully exempting artists selling their own works, as well as nonprofit organizations.
Scott Greytak, Deputy Executive Director for Transparency International U.S. (TI US), said the following on the introduction of the bill:
This is how corrupt politicians and other criminals launder the money that they steal: By using unaccountable middlemen to execute untraceable sales through a global market that lacks guardrails.
Years of bipartisan concern over the abuse of the U.S. art market by money launderers, kleptocrats, and sanctioned individuals have led us to this important moment. For example, a 2020 Senate investigation found that Russian oligarchs laundered over $18 million through anonymous art transactions. This bill would finally bring sunlight to one of the world’s most exploited financial blind spots.
TI US supports this legislation as an important step toward protecting the U.S. art market and financial system from exploitation by corrupt and criminal actors, and calls on Congress to pass the bill with expediency.
***
Transparency International U.S. is part of the world’s largest coalition against corruption. In collaboration with national chapters in more than 100 countries, we are leading the fight to turn our vision of a world free from corruption into reality.
Related Resources
- Read the Art Market Integrity Act;
- Read “Dirty Money Is Infiltrating America’s Multi-Billion Dollar Art Market,” a factsheet from the Antiquities Coalition—the leading civil society organization committed to stopping the looting and trafficking of arts and antiquities.
Media Contact
Gary Kalman, Executive Director, Transparency International U.S.
Telephone: +1 215-439-7090
Email: gkalman@us.transparency.org
Twitter: @TransparencyUSA
