WASHINGTON — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that 100,000 companies have been added to a new database that collects information on the “beneficial ownership” of companies, as part of a new government effort to unmask criminals. owners of shell companies.
Yellen noted that the Treasury Department’s new database collecting information on beneficial ownership sends the message that “the United States is not a haven for dark money.”
Yellen will visit the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network – known as FinCEN – in Vienna, Virginia, to discuss the database’s launch in the new year. She will also discuss upcoming real estate rules aimed at increasing transparency about people and companies buying property in the United States.
The visit to Virginia aims to show the intention of President Joe Biden’s government to increase business transparency and prevent the misuse of shell companies.
“Around the world, a lack of transparency, due specifically to opaque corporate structures, makes it easier to conceal illicit activities,” Yellen said in prepared remarks ahead of her visit to FinCEN headquarters. “Beneficial ownership information will help our law enforcement colleagues make arrests, pursue criminals and seize ill-gotten assets.”
In 2021, the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act was signed into law, giving the Treasury Department the authority to write new beneficial ownership rules. And starting January 1, most U.S. companies will be required to report identifying information about who directly or indirectly owns or controls them.
The rule requires most U.S. businesses with fewer than 20 employees — roughly 32.6 million businesses — to register with the government.
Source: AP
