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Ownership Transparency

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.

FACT Coalition to U.S. Government: Time to End Phantom Firms UK Announces Public Registry of Corporate Ownership

Today’s commitment from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to make a registry of the actual owners of corporations publicly available represents significant progress toward cracking down on anonymous companies polluting the globe. Because the United States is a prime destination for setting up anonymous companies that are used to facilitate crime and move dirty money, members of the FACT (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency) Coalition urge the U.S. to follow through on its G8 commitment to collect information about the ultimate owners of companies. The coalition encourages the U.S. to join the UK by pledging to make this information available to the public.

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Global Shell Games: Testing Money Launderers’ and Terrorist Financiers’ Access to Shell Companies

For criminals moving large sums of dirty money internationally, there is no better device than an untraceable shell company. This paper reports the results of an experiment soliciting offers for these prohibited anonymous shell corporations. Our research team impersonated a variety of low- and high-risk customers, including would-be money launderers, corrupt officials, and terrorist financiers when requesting the anonymous companies. Evidence is drawn from more than 7,400 email solicitations to more than 3,700 Corporate Service Providers that make and sell shell companies in 182 countries. The experiment allows us to test whether international rules are actually effective when they mandate that those selling shell companies must collect identity documents from their customers. Shell companies that cannot be traced back to their real owners are one of the most common means for laundering money, giving and receiving bribes, busting sanctions, evading taxes, and financing terrorism.

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