Anonymous companies provide human traffickers the secrecy they crave. Opaque ownership structures make it difficult to track the individuals involved, while providing plausible deniability for those who profit from human trafficking operations.
More than a dozen anti-human trafficking groups sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs urging members to end the incorporation of anonymous shell companies.
Anti-human trafficking organization, Polaris sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services, urging members to end the incorporation of anonymous shell companies.
The full letter can be read below or downloaded here.
In February, Dallas police busted a ring of illicit massage parlors. Four people were arrested on charges of aggravated promotion of prostitution at three locations in Dallas, Lewisville and Commerce. While the case is ongoing, detectives reported that many of the women working at the parlors may have been victims of human trafficking.
Anti-Human Trafficking Faith Group, Street Grace sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy in support of their hearing on “Promoting Corporate Transparency: Examining Legislative Proposals to Detect and Deter Financial Crime.” The letter can be downloaded here.
In cities throughout the United States, human trafficking rings operate illicit massage businesses, where women are forced to engage in commercial sex. Criminals engaged in human trafficking and money laundering are able to take advantage of the lack of transparency surrounding beneficial ownership of business entities to evade criminal prosecution. Congress must take action to ensure that law enforcement officials can identify the individual traffickers that control or benefit from illicit massage businesses and hold them accountable.
