Featured news from Economy
The so-called Corporate Transparency Act was incorporated into the US defense credit law passed by Congress late on Friday.
The United States has eliminated a major money laundering and tax evasion channel through a new law that now requires the names of shell company owners, widely used to hide billions of dollars from the treasury.
The so-called Corporate Transparency Act was incorporated into the US defense credits law passed by Congress on Friday night, bypassing President Donald Trump’s veto.
“This is the most important step we can take to better protect our financial system from abuse,” said Ian Gary, Executive Director of the FACT Coalition, who pushed for the regulation to be approved.
Under this law, front company owners must provide their identity to an agency of the United States Treasury Department, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
“For years, experts have routinely ranked anonymous shell companies … as the greatest weakness in our anti-money laundering safeguards,” said Gary.
Only the Ministry of Finance and the police have access to this information so that it is always protected from the general public. But for advocates of transparency, this is already a major step forward in the fight against corruption, organized crime and tax evasion.
While much attention has been paid to tax havens such as Panama or the Cayman Islands, experts argue that the size of the US economy, and thus its ability to absorb billions of dollars, went relatively unnoticed. central element to convert illegal funds into clean money.
In early 2020, the Tax Justice Network ranked the Cayman Islands and the United States as the champions in hiding finances from the eyes of the law and collecting taxes.
The United Nations estimates that between $ 800 billion and $ 2 trillion is laundered each year through the global financial system.