News & Events

Quartz: House Republicans are gutting a bill to fight money-laundering

House Republicans this week axed a key passage in a bill that is deemed crucial in the fight to stop kleptocrats, drug traffickers and terrorists from laundering money through the US.

The original legislation would have forced anyone setting up a company in the US to tell authorities who the actual owner was. Law enforcement, anti-corruption groups and national security experts say this is essential in fighting crimes that range from child trafficking to Russian election hacking; America’s opaque incorporation laws can otherwise make it impossible to find out who is behind a company benefiting from such crimes.

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ThinkProgress: Delaware ready to crack down on anonymous shell companies

At long last, the U.S. may be moving toward preventing the types of anonymous shell companies that criminals, kleptocrats, and arms dealers have long sought. But just as Delaware, the country’s leading anonymous shell company provider, gets on board with new transparency measures, Congress has taken a significant step back, gutting a bill that could have potentially ended the U.S.’s role as the world’s anonymous company capital.

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Delaware Endorses Bill to Tackle Anonymous Companies

Move Comes as Lawmakers Consider Dropping Important Anti-Money Laundering Section from Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Delaware’s top government official overseeing company formation in the state endorsed a bipartisan federal proposal to require companies to disclose their true owners at the time of formation in new a new letter to Congress.

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New Bill Would Plug an Offshore Loophole in Tax Overhaul

New Bill Would Plug an Offshore Loophole in Tax Overhaul
WASHINGTON, D.C. — House lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday that would make it harder for multinational corporations to game the offshore provisions in the newly adopted tax overhaul.

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America must continue the fight against kleptocracy around the globe

Criminals and corrupt government officials and businesses use anonymous companies – usually registered in Western, developed countries – to move and hide assets, launder money, and evade law enforcement. The true owners of these companies should be required to report to authorities their identity when incorporating as a company or legal entity. This simple transparency would make it much harder for corrupt officials to steal vast wealth from their populations.

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Congress must step up sanctions law to stop American adversaries

Though it may seem fanciful, there is a powerful tool that is tailor made for simultaneously combating North Korean nukes, Russian aggression, Chinese influence, and Iranian maleficence. This tool is beneficial ownership. In practice, existing beneficial ownership rules in the United States require compliance departments to collect, verify, and store data on clients, all at a cost to the consumer.

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