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.
Join the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition on May 17th for the U.S. launch of the Financial Secrecy Index, a flagship research initiative of the Tax Justice Network. The Financial Secrecy Index ranks countries around the world based on “how intensely the country’s financial and legal system allows individuals to hide and launder money extracted from around the world.”
FACT’s Policy Director Ryan Gurule and Gary Kalman of FACT-Member Transparency International Spoke Today in a Legislative Briefing for New York’s Legislature on the Importance of Implementing Corporate Transparency Reforms through New York’s LLC Transparency Act
FACT’s statement to House Financial Services outlines priorities for implementing beneficial ownership reform and strengthening anti-money laundering rules
There’s a lot to watch during Thursday’s congressional oversight hearing with FinCEN Acting Director Him Das. Here’s what we are interested in knowing re: U.S. progress to close AML loopholes and deny kleptocrats, criminals, and terrorists access to the U.S. financial system.
The FACT Coalition sent a letter today to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) urging the agency to act quickly to implement the secure directory of beneficial owners of U.S. entities under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and, in doing so, to adopt a set of internationally recognized best data practices.
The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition is calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to address the undisclosed presence of possible illicit financial flows in private investment markets. Without further action from the SEC, these flows may enrich and embolden potential adversaries, such as Putin’s regime, and eventually destabilize U.S. and global financial markets. Meanwhile, the failure to identify these flows undermines current sanctions against Russian oligarchs, and may jeopardize future tools that the U.S. might wield against aggressive governments.
