Rep. Carolyn Maloney joined FACT and the Tax Justice Network in discussing the launch of the 2022 Financial Secrecy Index and what it means for the U.S. transparency agenda

While the U.S. is joining with governments around the world to locate and freeze Russian oligarch assets, this task is made more difficult by existing systems of financial secrecy that allow people, including kleptocrats and criminals, to hide their financial assets from authorities and investigators. In its 2020 ranking, the U.S. was identified as the second most secretive jurisdiction in the world, demonstrating that “offshore” finance isn’t so offshore, after all. The failure of the U.S. to measurably reduce its financial secrecy–or worse, to have increased it–would be entirely self-defeating in light of U.S.-led international efforts to sanction Russian oligarchs. It would also undermine democracy and the rule of law globally, as well as enable tax avoidance and evasion, robbing global governments of resources they need to fight inequality and address the climate crisis. 

Come hear about the new U.S. ranking and what the U.S. needs to do to improve its score to help end the global scourge of dirty money. Representative Carolyn Maloney, a champion of the U.S. Corporate Transparency Act, will discuss what steps the U.S. Treasury needs to be taken to fully implement this landmark law and eliminate abuses enabled by anonymous shell companies.

• Keynote Presentation: Representative Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman, House Committee on Oversight and Reform
• Presentation of report findings: Alex Cobham, Executive director, Tax Justice Network
• The U.S. financial transparency reform agenda: Lakshmi Kumar, Policy Director, Global Financial Integrity