Global Rapid Response Fund

Background

OPDAT manages a Global Rapid Response Fund (RRF) to deploy prosecutors and law enforcement officials on temporary international assignments to help foreign partners dismantle transnational criminal organizations and seize the illicit funds that finance their crimes. Such crime is harmful to U.S. interests at home and abroad, and OPDAT seeks to prevent it from reaching our shores. In partnership with the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the RRF enables experts in illicit finance investigations from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address emerging criminal organizations in countries where there is political will and an opening for reform. 

The RRF provides agility to address immediate issues, including strengthening cross-border coordination against corruption, violent organized crime, and illicit finance; identifying and facilitating case cooperation, whether with the U.S. or with third party countries; promoting the adoption of international instruments, standards, and best practices to combat corruption, violent organized crime, and illicit finance; and helping limit vulnerabilities that can be exploited by corrupt and malign actors.

Programs

Cyprus

From May to Nov 2024, the RRF funded a seven-month engagement in Cyprus by an anti-money laundering prosecutor from DOJ who provided technical assistance to prosecutors and investigators on financial crime cases.  The RRF prosecutor coordinated closely with FBI agents to assist Cypriot counterparts on pending sanctions and money laundering investigations.

Moldova

In 2024, the RRF funded a six-month engagement by an FBI special agent to advise the country’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (APO) on complex financial investigations. In June 2024, the FBI special agent supported the APO on a joint case that resulted in multiple search and arrest warrants involving a suspected fraudulent scheme to bribe officials in Moldova and elsewhere to interfere with INTERPOL’s publication of Red Notices for wanted international fugitives. 

Mongolia

From Sept 2024 to Sept 2025, the RRF supported an engagement with Mongolia by an anti-money laundering prosecutor from DOJ. The RRF prosecutor made multiple trips to Mongolia to provide technical assistance to prosecutors, investigators, and judges on corruption cases and asset recovery.

Senegal

The RRF provides resources for a series of TDYs to Senegal by prosecutors with the International Unit of the DOJ’s Money Laundering, Narcotics, and Forfeiture Section to provide technical assistance to Senegalese justice partners, including prosecutors and investigators, on international best practices.

Seychelles

The RRF facilitated multiple trips to the Seychelles by a prosecutor from the DOJ’s Money Laundering, Narcotics, and Forfeiture Section’s International Unit to provide technical assistance to the Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles on a public corruption case with asset recovery.

Zambia

From June 2024 to the present, the RRF has funded a series of TDYs to Zambia by DOJ prosecutors to assist counterparts on illicit finance case management, financial information and evidence collection, and asset recovery. OPDAT also works directly with Zambia’s Economic and Financial Crimes Court on illicit finance matters and has sent a U.S. federal judge to Zambia to provide technical assistance to the judges on the court.