Statement by the FACT Coalition on Treasury Department Decision to Renew and Expand Geographic Targeting Orders to Identify Buyers in Luxury Real Estate
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department, announced Tuesday that it was renewing and expanding its temporary orders seeking to uncover illicit activity in the luxury real estate sector.
The 2016 release of the Panama Papers was an avalanche of data on the nefarious use of anonymous companies for corrupt activities. The leak showed that shell companies can represent an important nexus of corruption, money laundering, transnational organized crime, and terrorism, all of which directly harm U.S. foreign policy interests. Such companies have been used to divert U.S. security and overseas development funds from their intended purposes into the hands of those who seek to do the United States harm, and they can help fund the very insurgents and terrorists U.S. troops are fighting.
Creating a U.S. shell company takes less information than acquiring a library card. A 2014 academic study found that the U.S. is the easiest country in the world for terrorists and criminals to open anonymous shell companies to launder their money with impunity.
The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT Coalition) sent a letter to Sens. Wyden and Rubio thanking them for their support regarding Corporate Transparency Act (S.1717), which aims to combat terrorism and financial crimes by ending the incorporation of anonymous companies in the United States.
Sen. Wyden and Sen. Rubio’s “Corporate Transparency Act” — Companion to Rep. Maloney and Rep. King’s H.R.3089 — Would End Incorporation of Anonymous Companies
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Momentum continued to build towards curbing criminal money laundering and terror finance Thursday as Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the Corporate Transparency Act (S.1717), the Senate companion to a bipartisan House bill (H.R.3089) aimed at ending the abuse of anonymous shell companies.
FACT Coalition Supports ‘Aircraft Ownership Transparency Act of 2017’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill Friday to secure the U.S. aviation system from criminal actors and terrorists hiding behind anonymous shell companies, in a move welcomed by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition.
