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.
Anti-Human Trafficking Faith Group, Street Grace sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy in support of their hearing on “Promoting Corporate Transparency: Examining Legislative Proposals to Detect and Deter Financial Crime.” The letter can be downloaded here.
Anonymous companies are behind just about every financial crime. They are the vehicle of choice for laundering money obtained through illicit activity. Schemes involving terror financing and the trafficking of drugs, illegal weapons, and humans all use anonymous companies to move money, fund operations, and allow bad actors to escape with the proceeds of their crimes and impunity.
The pervasive use of secret shell and front companies also impacts the broader economy. As such, more and more businesses are speaking out.
Testimony, reports, and independent assessments all find that anonymous companies are a threat to global peace and security and undermine our ability to keep dangerous actors from accessing our financial system.
It’s a new year, a new US Congress, and a new opportunity for the United States to take action to close some of the most glaring loopholes in its anticorruption and anti-money laundering (AML) framework.
The FACT Coalition sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urging support of beneficial ownership disclosure. The full letter can be read below or downloaded here.
The FACT Coalition joined dozens to send a letter to the Canadian Minister of Finance supporting efforts to strengthen beneficial ownership transparency and to encourage the federal government to advocate for a publicly accessible pan-Canadian company registry of beneficial owners.
