Fidelity asks for summary judgment in suit against FinCEN, Bessent

"In the motion for summary judgment, FNF claims that the case presents a stark example of regulatory overreach. As the plaintiffs see it, Congress has only given FinCEN the authority to enact mandatory reporting rules for only suspicious transactions that are deemed to be relevant to potential legal violations, and that the mandatory reports must be streamlined. Instead, FNF argues that FinCEN has completely ignored those limits and instead issued a rule demanding blanket and intrusive reporting on virtually every non-financed transfer"

"FNF calls the mandatory reporting rule arbitrary and capricious, claims that FinCEN failed to provide any rationale showing that the Rule met the requirement or that FinCEN had even seriously considered the requirement that the agency must ensure' that its reporting rules reach only transactions relevant to potential violations of law.' The title insurer also claims that FinCEN failed to address significant comments made during the proposed rulemaking process, including those calling for a monetary threshold and the inclusion of trusts within the rule."

FNF sued FinCEN, the Department of the Treasury, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki and filed motions for summary judgment and for a stay or preliminary injunction. FNF contends that Congress authorized FinCEN only to require reporting of suspicious transactions relevant to potential legal violations and to keep reports streamlined. FNF alleges FinCEN issued a nationwide rule requiring blanket reporting of most non-financed residential real-estate transfers to legal entities, affecting over 800,000 transactions annually. FNF asserts the rule is arbitrary and capricious, lacked a required cost-benefit analysis, ignored significant comments, and violates the Fourth and First Amendments.

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