Op-Eds | Page 5 | The FACT Coalition

Oligarchs hide billions in shell companies. Here’s how we stop them

April 3, 2018

Two years ago we published the Panama Papers after an anonymous source provided 2.6 terabytes of internal data from the dubious Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca. We shared the data with 400 journalists worldwide and together revealed how the wealthy and powerful use shell companies to hide their assets. Such companies are exploited by dictators, drug cartels, mafia clans, fraudsters, weapons dealers and regimes like North Korea and Iran to hide their shady business transactions.

My law degree wasn’t meant for money laundering. But boy, it would make it easy.

March 29, 2018

Anonymous companies are ubiquitous in most money-laundering schemes, and in the allegations against Trump campaign associates Paul Manafort and Richard Gates. Shell companies are formed with no record of the true owners, and because they are so easy to set up — especially if you’re a lawyer — you can easily layer dozens of them to confuse investigators and hide dirty money.

It’s time to go after Vladimir Putin’s money in the West

March 29, 2018

Russia’s economic means are limited. Therefore, the Kremlin prefers cheap asymmetric or hybrid warfare, such as the hacking of elections, cyberwarfare, manipulation of social media and the corruption of foreign politicians. We need to respond asymmetrically, hurting the Kremlin more than it hurts us.

‘McMafia’ isn’t fiction — Corruption is a Global Problem

March 3, 2018

Corrupt deal-making at the highest level is happening right now, even in the U.S. In a year that has already seen ending anonymously-owned companies a top priority for some U.S. lawmakers, “McMafia” shines a light on these secretive companies and the uncomfortable truths that we at Global Witness have been campaigning on for many years.

Faith Leaders Against Anonymous Shell Companies

January 4, 2018

As faith leaders in Utah, we are concerned with a gaping hole in state and federal law that is having dire consequences throughout the state, country and the world. We feel it is time as citizens to call on our representatives to correct this oversight and give law enforcement the tools they need to protect us and our financial system. It is time to end the legal twilight zone where anonymous shell companies are used to protect criminals.

Corporate Anonymity is a Conduit for Crime

October 20, 2017

Few people would imagine Delaware or Wyoming as potentially key players in the world of international crime and terror. But as a result of some of the most permissive corporate legal codes in the world, that appears to be a strong possibility.