
AP News: Treasury moves forward with database on corporate ownership
Ian Gary, the executive director of the FACT Coalition, called the release of the new rule “a historic moment in the decades long fight to rid the U.S. of dirty money.”
The U.S. is the easiest place in the world for a criminal, terrorist, tax cheat, or kleptocrat to open an anonymous shell company to launder their money with impunity. Anonymous corporations are great ways to hide money and other assets — they can hold a bank account or buy a yacht. Criminals often layer anonymous corporations, with one owning another and so on, making it even harder for law enforcement to “trace the money” and figure out who is directing the company’s activity. It’s time to ending the use of anonymous shell companies as vehicles for illicit activity by requiring that the true owners of U.S. companies be disclosed at the time of formation and updated upon any change.
Ian Gary, the executive director of the FACT Coalition, called the release of the new rule “a historic moment in the decades long fight to rid the U.S. of dirty money.”
Today, the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition welcomes the Treasury Department’s release of the first final rule to implement the landmark Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), and urges the Treasury Department to accelerate the remaining rulemaking processes as necessary to fully implement this ground-breaking anti-money laundering reform.
The Sentry’s report points to major ways the international community must act to deny kleptocrats the “brain trust” on which they rely to perpetrate their crimes. It’s up to the U.S. to be a leader, not a laggard, in implementing a robust anti-money laundering regime.
Join FACT and the Hudson Institute for an in-person, Senate briefing on September 28th to learn about the scale of the problem posed by professional “enablers” and the future of this crucial reform agenda.
As world leaders gather this week in New York for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), an epidemic of offshore wealth looms large over efforts to safeguard a turbulent post-pandemic world. Faced with myriad unpredictable crises, ranging from historic floods and droughts to widespread food scarcity and brewing recessionary fears, governments around the world are facing a need to raise revenues to stave off disasters and have a chance to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Today, Elizabeth Rosenberg, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Andrew Adams, Director of the Task Force KleptoCapture at the Department of Justice, testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on steps the Administration is taking in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.