The next front in the battle is what Global Witness calls “the getaway car” for criminals: shell companies. These anonymous corporations, while not illegal themselves, enable copious criminal behavior around the world—and the United States appears to have more shell companies than any other country. Every state allows formation of them, often collecting less information from applicants than it takes to get a driver’s license. Often the entities only exist on paper, perhaps with a post office box. The United Kingdom, under heavy pressure over rampant financial misdeeds, is taking the lead in creating the world’s first public registry of real owners. It’s now pressuring British dependencies and territories to do the same: Jersey, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and the British Virgin Islands are all favorite havens for anonymous companies. Other countries and the European Union are heading in that direction. In the United States, retiring Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, are two co-sponsors of a bill that would require states to use an incorporation system requiring applicants to disclose their real owners.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 23:47:18 +0000
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