The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition) sent a letter of support to the leadership of the House of Representatives endorsing the Corporate Transparency Act of 2019 (H.R. 2513) and the Coordinating Oversight, Upgrading and Innovating Technology, and Examiner Reform (COUNTER) Act of 2019 (H.R. 2514) ahead of the chamber’s floor vote on October 22, 2019.
Anonymous companies have been used by rogue employees to embezzle money, fraudulent vendors to undermine supply chains, and bogus competitors to steal contracts.
With fewer resources than larger enterprises, small businesses are often easy targets for scammers and criminals.
In 2017, a Colorado court convicted four individuals, including a former police officer, of racketeering, money laundering, and conspiracy for illegally selling counterfeit Denver Broncos merchandise as well as additional sports products from other professional and college teams around the country. A key element of the international counterfeiting scheme was the use of more than 20 anonymous companies.
This is just one of a number of schemes that were highlighted in a FACT Coalition report, titled “Anonymous Companies Help Finance Illicit Commerce and Harm American Businesses and Citizens,” which was published earlier this year. Authored by David M. Luna, a former U.S. national security official and current chair of the Anti-Illicit Trade Committee of the United States Council for International Business, the report reveals the harms imposed upon legitimate businesses, unwitting consumers, and even the United States military by anonymous companies engaging in the trade in counterfeit and pirated goods. Currently, these criminal entities operate with impunity in the United States and are able to circumvent the law with little risk of accountability. The report concludes that enacting legislation requiring the disclosure of beneficial ownership information is an essential measure to combat the increasingly prolific abuses perpetrated by these shadowy networks.
The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition) sent a letter to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in support of the Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act of 2019. The full letter can be read below or downloaded here.
Wyden, Rubio, and Whitehouse’s “Corporate Transparency Act” — Companion to Maloney and King’s H.R.2513 — Would End Incorporation of Anonymous Companies in the U.S.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bipartisan momentum to end the incorporation of anonymous companies in the United States escalated on Wednesday following the publication of an international exposé on the scandal-plagued Odebrecht’s “Bribery Division,” as Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced legislation that would require companies to disclose their true owner(s) when they incorporate and keep their ownership information up to-do-date.
Gary Kalman, the executive director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, spoke on a panel for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on Thursday June 13, 2019. The topic of the panel was innovative methods for ending large-scale financial corruption.
