For the second year in a row, we witnessed a historic outcome during the 2026 General Session of the Utah Legislature, most notably with the creation of the Utah Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (Utah FCIC). In a year where revenues were down, legislators responded to the growing scourge of financial fraud and the havoc it wreaks on Utah families by pledging nearly $2 million to establish this new state entity.
The Utah FCIC will become the state’s nerve center for the myriad efforts currently underway to prevent, respond to and prosecute financial fraud in Utah.
By sharing real-time information on current fraudulent activity, we anticipate being able to more effectively educate the public and prevent fraud. This coordination of real-time information will allow Utah’s financial institutions to rapidly share and receive threat assessments, better positioning them to alert employees and customers to the latest trends in fraudulent activity.
When fraud occurs, a rapid response is essential to recover funds. The FCIC will serve as the quarterback, working with sending and receiving institutions and providing the legal foundation to stop the flow of funds and ultimately return them to the rightful owner. In those instances, minutes and hours are critical, and it will be vital for financial institutions and their customers to know exactly where to turn in those desperate moments.
Financial fraud is deeply associated with organized crime. Modern criminal networks increasingly use sophisticated scams to generate, move and reinvest illicit profits. Organized crime groups utilize financial fraud both as a primary source of income and as a tool to facilitate other illicit activities. Many criminal syndicates have shifted from traditional activities like drug trafficking toward high-return, lower-risk financial crimes such as cyber-enabled fraud, identity theft and investment scams.
Many of these syndicates are transnational and sponsored by foreign nation-states like Iran, North Korea, Russia and China. Fighting back against such sophisticated, well-funded and far-reaching operations requires a “whole of government” approach, with state and federal law enforcement, along with the Departments of Homeland Security, State and Treasury, coordinating with financial institutions, tech, telecom and social media companies. The Utah FCIC will be critical in facilitating this coordination.
Over time, the FCIC will be able to help identify changes to current laws and rules that the State Legislature and state agencies will need to adopt to pursue these syndicates, better protect Utahns and catch and punish the criminals engaged in fraud.
We know that these criminals follow the path of least resistance. It is our hope that a coordinated focus on financial crime and our developed expertise in fraud investigations and prosecutions will send a loud message to these syndicates: Avoid Utah altogether, because you will be found, prosecuted and put in jail.
Utah is just the second state in the nation to establish an FCIC, and I firmly believe that we will point to the 2026 legislative session and the creation of the Utah FCIC as the moment the tide began to turn in our battle against financial fraud.
