The National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy in support of the Corporate Transparency Act. The letter can be downloaded here.
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March 13, 2019
The Honorable Steve Stivers
Committee on Financial Services
Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy
U.S. House of Representatives
Dear Ranking Member Stivers,
On behalf of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA), the largest prosecutor organization representing 2,500 elected and appointed District Attorneys across the United States as well as 40,000 Assistant District Attorneys, I write regarding the Corporate Transparency Act.
Following hearings in the Senate and House on this issue, NDAA has chosen to support the Corporate Transparency Act. The need for the collection of beneficial ownership information is critical to law enforcement investigations into organized transnational criminal operations, terrorism financing and other unlawful activity. On July 12, 2018, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Steven T. Mnuchin, called on Congress to find a way to facilitate the collection of this information “in the next six months,” and stated further, “I don’t want to be coming back here next year and [not] have this solved.”
As end users of evidence collected throughout the investigative process, it is imperative that prosecutors have as much information as possible in order to determine the best course of action for prosecuting an individual or entity that has committed a crime. Beneficial ownership data collection is vital to this effort, and law enforcement and prosecutors must have access to that information when legally authorized by the court, including through criminal and administrative subpoenas.
We appreciate your efforts on addressing this issue and look forward to working with your staff to move this legislation forward.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Blodgett
President