Scholars Call for an End to Anonymous Companies: National Security Threats are Profound
Quotes from prominent national security experts explaining the problems with anonymous shell companies.
Crack Down on U.K.’s Offshore Territories Increases Pressure on U.S. to End Anonymous Companies
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawmakers in the United Kingdom voted Tuesday to require their offshore territories to establish systems by 2020 mandating companies to disclose their true owners at the time of formation. The new rules, which will bring transparency to companies formed in notorious secrecy jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and the British Virgin Islands, were welcomed by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition.
Just the FACTs: April 19, 2018
In January, we were optimistic that this would be the year anonymous companies would end. Since then, the momentum for disclosure has only grown. Legal scholars and international affairs experts have recently called for action, a recent poll showed overwhelming support from small businesses, and a report from Fair Share reminded us that anonymous companies are continuing to fuel the opioid epidemic. Between these and a recent investigation by Reuters that found Russians are using a web of anonymous companies to skirt U.S. sanctions and boost the government of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and the Hezbollah militia, the arguments for secrecy are becoming more and more invalid.
Briefing Memo: Analysis of Concerns Raised by Opponents of the Draft Counter Terrorism and Illicit Finance Act
The FACT Coalition sent this memo to offer detailed responses to several common concerns raised by opponents of the discussion draft of the Counter Terrorism and Illicit Finance Act and to inform the debate moving forward.
The Flawed and Flimsy Basis for the American Bar Association’s Opposition to Anonymous Company Reform
In last week’s post, I raised the question of why the American Bar Association (ABA), which represents the U.S. legal profession, so strenuously opposes even relatively modest measures to crack down on the use of anonymous companies for money laundering and other illicit purposes. In particular, the ABA has staked out a strong, uncompromising opposition to the bills on this topic currently under consideration in the U.S. House (the Counter-Terrorism and Illicit Finance Act) and in the Senate (the TITLE Act). As I noted in my last post, the substance of the ABA’s objections (summarized in its letters here and here) appear, at least on their surface, unpersuasive as a matter of logic, unsupported by evidence, or both. This, coupled with the fact that many ABA members strongly disagree with the ABA’s official position on this issue, made me wonder how the ABA’s President and Government Affairs Office had come to take the position that they had.
After doing a bit more digging, and talking to several knowledgeable people, I have a tentative answer: The ABA’s opposition to the currently-pending anonymous company bills is based on an aggressive over-reading of a 15-year-old policy — a policy that many ABA members and ABA committees oppose but have not yet been able to change, due to the ABA’s cumbersome procedures and the resistance of a few influential factions within the organization.
Bipartisan Bill Targets Foreign Government Corruption
The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Act Would Establish a Rewards Program for Whistleblowers
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday afternoon to combat terror finance and foreign government corruption in a move that was welcomed by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition.