Who We Are
Founded in 2011 under the leadership of Nicole Tichon, the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition is a non-partisan alliance of more than 100 state, national, and international organizations. Our mission is to promote policies to combat the harmful impacts of illicit finance on communities, global security, and the environment, and to campaign for a fair international tax system. The FACT Coalition’s members include anti-corruption organizations, human rights watchdogs, labor unions, environment and climate groups, and more. To achieve our objectives, we also engage partners who are committed to combating these harms, including in law enforcement and the private sector.
In a globalized world, U.S. financial secrecy fuels global harms. Our work is motivated by the belief that addressing U.S. policy weaknesses will not only make our communities safer and more equitable, but also benefit our friends, neighbors, and allies around the world.
Why It Matters
In 2021, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said “there’s a good argument that, right now, the best place to hide and launder ill-gotten gains is actually the United States.” The ability of bad actors to hide wealth and income in the U.S. financial system with impunity imperils U.S. national security, harms law-abiding citizens and businesses, accelerates economic inequality, enables transnational crime, and robs government coffers of much needed revenues.
Today, FACT is the leading U.S. voice working to combat money laundering, tax evasion, and the harms caused by financial secrecy. After ten years of dedicated advocacy to end the abuse of anonymous U.S. shell companies, FACT welcomed the passage of the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) in 2021 – the most significant anti money laundering reform in two decades. Since then, FACT has closely engaged with U.S. policymakers to support robust, meaningful implementation of the law. Additionally, FACT has advocated for effective anti money laundering controls within the U.S. real estate and private investment sectors, which have long been vulnerable to abuse by financial criminals.
As a top destination for proceeds of serious transnational crimes, such as drug smuggling and human trafficking, the U.S. has a responsibility to make sure that criminals do not find financial safe harbor in our markets. Environmental crimes constitute the world’s third most profitable crime and warrant a U.S. policy focus to prevent, flag, and investigate the illicit profits flowing from these offenses. FACT is working with its members and allies to change U.S. policies and practices to better address illicit financial flows, including specific initiatives targeting the proceeds of environmental crimes like illegal logging and mining.
U.S. financial secrecy also compounds existing issues in the tax code that exacerbate economic inequality and deprive the government of much-needed revenues that could fund popular programs and address federal deficits. U.S. multinational companies, in particular, pay levels of tax far lower than ordinary citizens and domestic businesses on average, often enabled by the abuse of offshore tax havens. These tax schemes disadvantage small businesses, drain U.S. revenues, and impoverish developing countries where major multinationals do business.
Such tax schemes are also risky for investors, and FACT believes that greater tax transparency is necessary to deter companies from engaging in aggressive tax avoidance and evasion. By making big companies declare where they do – and often do not – pay taxes, we can begin to address systemic issues that impact communities at home and abroad.