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<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en-US"><meta name="bingbot" content="nocache"/><head><meta charSet="utf-8"/><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/><meta name="twitter:site" content="@voxdotcom"/><meta property="fb:app_id" content="549923288395304"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="Vox"/><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no"/><meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="Vox"/><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Vox" href="/rss/index.xml"/><title>The US bans anonymous shell companies in defense act’s anti-money-laundering reform | Vox</title><meta name="robots" content="index,follow,max-image-preview:large"/><meta name="description" content="Congress included a provision to ban anonymous shell companies in the National Defense Authorization Act."/><meta property="og:title" content="The US has made its biggest anti-money-laundering changes in years"/><meta property="og:description" content="Congress included a provision to ban anonymous shell companies in the National Defense Authorization Act."/><meta property="og:url" content="https://www.vox.com/22188223/congress-anti-money-laundering-anonymous-shell-companies-ban-defense-bill"/><meta property="og:type" content="article"/><meta property="article:published_time" content="2020-12-21T16:00:00+00:00"/><meta property="article:modified_time" content="2021-01-04T14:50:31+00:00"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C11.908285568801%2C100%2C78.541284949349&w=1200"/><meta property="og:image:type" content="image/jpeg"/><meta property="og:image:width" content="1200"/><meta property="og:image:height" content="628"/><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.vox.com/22188223/congress-anti-money-laundering-anonymous-shell-companies-ban-defense-bill"/><meta name="author" content="Jen Kirby"/><meta 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Act.","datePublished":"2020-12-21T16:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-04T14:50:31+00:00","url":"https://www.vox.com/22188223/congress-anti-money-laundering-anonymous-shell-companies-ban-defense-bill","mainEntityOfPage":"https://www.vox.com/22188223/congress-anti-money-laundering-anonymous-shell-companies-ban-defense-bill","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Vox","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/default-og-image.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0.13712291199202,100,99.725754176016","width":"1200","height":"628"}},"articleSection":"Politics","keywords":["Politics","World Politics"],"author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jen Kirby","url":"https://www.vox.com/authors/jen-kirby"}],"isAccessibleForFree":false,"image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,11.908285568801,100,78.541284949349","height":"2834","width":"5414"},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017,0,99.990764684152,100","height":"3609","width":"5413"},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.669745105283,0,66.660509789435,100","height":"3609","width":"3609"}],"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","xpath":["/html/head/title","/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content"]},"articleBody":"If you’re a corrupt foreign official or drug trafficker, there’s a pretty easy way to protect your illicit cash: create an anonymous shell company.\nYou form a shell company — meaning a business that exists only on paper, with no employees, no products it makes or sells, no revenue, nothing except maybe a bank account and some assets — but you do it without disclosing your (the owner’s) real name, offering a convenient way to launder your money and evade law enforcement in the United States.\nExcept that might now be a lot harder to do in the US. A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the $741 billion defense bill, will effectively ban anonymous shell companies.\nThe NDAA passed with bipartisan support in Congress. Trump vetoed the package, but Congress voted overwhelmingly to override the president’s veto for the first time during Trump’s tenure.\nThat means that now, when someone opens a shell corporation, they’ll be required to provide the owner’s name and some basic identifying information. This simple step will give law enforcement and national security officials a powerful tool to crack down on corruption.\nTo help understand more about what this new provision does and why it’s so important, I called up Clark Gascoigne, a senior policy adviser at the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, a nongovernmental organization that advocates against corrupt financial practices by promoting transparency and anti-money-laundering policies.\n“This is the biggest anti-money-laundering update that we’ve had in 20 years,” he told me.\nOur conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.\nJen Kirby\nSo can you explain — in really simple dummy terms — what this law actually does?\nClark Gascoigne\nSo in dummy terms, it will require that, when you form a company in the United States, you simply have to disclose the identity of the true human being who owns the company. \nIt asks for four readily available pieces of information: your name, address, date of birth, and an ID number, which could be a driver’s license or passport number. You disclose that to the Treasury Department.\nAnd that’s it. That’s what it does. When you form the company, you disclose that, and then if you sell it or the company’s ownership changes, you have to update that with the Treasury Department. That’s it.\nJen Kirby\nOkay, so, I’m thinking: If I wanted to start a business, of course I would have to give that information. But you’re telling me that’s not the case for all businesses?\nClark Gascoigne\nSo right now, in the United States — in fact, in every state in the country — you can set up an anonymous shell company. You can create a company without disclosing who the true owner is.\nSome states ask for more information than other states, but no state actually asks for the person who ultimately owns the company. It could be a manager that needs to be listed. Some states require a registered agent of the company. There are some states that don’t even require a human being to be listed on the forms anywhere. \nIt’s a major problem for law enforcement and national security investigators as they’re pursuing criminal networks or national security threats. When they stumble across an anonymous shell company, they can’t figure out who is behind the company. They just hit this brick wall of corporate secrecy. And investigations often stall, and can, at times, be abandoned due to a lack of time and resources to be able to figure it out and continue to pursue the case.\nSo having this disclosure is going to be a critical reform that’ll allow investigators to actually follow the money trail.\nJen Kirby\nI’m thinking, “Why would I want to form an anonymous company?” Maybe it’s because I want to do something that is not exactly aboveboard. Can you explain who, exactly, wants to open an anonymous shell company?\nClark Gascoigne\nSo I would state, first off, that there are many reasons to have a shell company if you want to hold assets. It’s the anonymity that this is going after. You can still incorporate shell companies after this, you just have to disclose who’s behind it to the government. \nThe reason that people oftentimes set these anonymous companies up is because they are looking at engaging in nefarious activity. There’s a pretty well-documented history of these anonymous companies being used to undermine various national security safeguards that we have, to hide bad actors and to launder proceeds for a wide variety of crimes.\nAnywhere from North Korea setting up anonymous shell companies to evade sanctions on their nuclear proliferation financing to human traffickers who set up anonymous shell companies to own the illicit massage businesses they are operating through in order to stymie law enforcement from figuring out who the criminal kingpins are behind those shell companies.\nJen Kirby\nGotcha. And my understanding is the US has been a bit of an outlier here until now in allowing this practice. Is that right?\nClark Gascoigne\nSo there’s a number of studies and research that’s gone into this. There was a study a few years ago by some academics at the University of Texas, Brigham Young University, and [Australia’s] Griffith University, where they sent emails to corporate-formation companies in hundreds of different countries around the world, intentionally setting off red flags for terror financing, corruption, or drug-trafficking. \nThey actually found that the corporate formation agents in the United States were most likely to ignore the red flags and proceed with setting up the companies. There was one corporate-formation agent in Florida who responded saying, “This is clearly dirty money, it could possibly even be terror financing” — and then followed that by saying, “I wouldn’t even consider getting involved for less than $5,000 a month.” So totally willing to do it for a price.\nThere’s other studies, too. The World Bank and the United Nations took a look at 150 of the largest corruption cases over the past few decades and found that more than three-quarters of them utilize anonymous companies to launder their illicit funds, and US entities were the most common of those companies in those cases. \nJen Kirby\nIt seems the ease with which people could set up anonymous shell companies in the United States made some of the US’s foreign policy tools, particularly when it came to sanctions, somewhat ineffective. Is that a fair characterization?\nClark Gascoigne\nI mean, without knowing who the beneficial owners of companies are, you can sanction any company you want, but a sanctioned individual can just set up another shell company anonymously. And that entity is not sanctioned, and they can just continue with business as usual. And this happens all the time. It’s like whack-a-mole.\nJen Kirby\nOkay, so then this new law sounds pretty good, in that it’s very bad for people who want to launder money.\nClark Gascoigne\nThis is the biggest anti-money-laundering update that we’ve had in 20 years. It’s a big deal, and it plugs what most people in the national security and law enforcement community view as the biggest loophole in our anti-money-laundering system.\nJen Kirby\nAre there are flaws in it?\nClark Gascoigne\nThis is, of course, a compromise, right? If I could have waved a magic wand, this is not the bill I would have written.\nBut it is a compromise with integrity. Most importantly, the definition of who is a “beneficial owner” in the bill is very strong and will truly identify the ultimate owners of the companies. That’s a big deal.\nNow, it doesn’t solve all of our money-laundering problems. One big exemption in this is that while it applies to corporations, limited liability companies, it does not apply to trusts or partnerships.\nPartnerships are generally considered lower risk, but trusts are a major issue, particularly because the vast majority of trusts in the United States don’t actually register with their legal contracts.\nSo you will still be able to set up a trust that could potentially be abused for money laundering after this. That’s something that we’re going to have to take a look at. There are studies that the Government Accountability Office and Treasury Department are going to have to do on the risks posed by trusts. The bill mandates those studies, and hopefully we’ll be able to address that down the road. \nThere’s also some concerns around pooled investment vehicles, like hedge funds and private equity funds, that are operated or advised by a registered investment adviser. Law enforcement will be able to tie the fund to the investment adviser, and they’ll know the beneficial ownership information for the investment adviser, but they won’t know it for the fund itself.\nThere is a big concern around that because you’ve got trillions of dollars in money going into these private pooled investment funds that could potentially pose some risk for money laundering.\nJen Kirby\nWhen it comes to those pooled investments, just to make sure I’m understanding this: So if I have dirty money, and I am putting it into this fund with a lot of other investments, it basically muddies the waters. You know who’s managing the fund, but you have no way to pull out each investment, correct?\nClark Gascoigne\nCorrect, yeah.\nJen Kirby\nGotcha. Okay, so is this law retroactive? If you already have an anonymous shell company, must you now register? Or does it all begin once the law goes into effect?\nClark Gascoigne\nIt applies both to new companies formed after this law, as well as to existing companies. \nThe Treasury Department will have one year to issue final rules spelling out exactly how this will be implemented, at which point new companies will immediately have to start reporting their ownership information. There will be a two-year grace period, though, for existing companies to come into compliance. \nJen Kirby\nSo why now? You say this is the biggest update to the US’s anti-money-laundering regime in 20 years, but what was the impetus in Congress to actually agree on this right now?\nClark Gascoigne\nYou know, the last update to our anti-money-laundering laws was included in the US Patriot Act back after 9/11. There was a clear reaction to the terror attacks on 9/11 that led to the updates in our anti-money-laundering laws at that time.\nWe don’t have anything similar to that right now. However, there has been a growing understanding of the strategic threats that anonymous shell companies posed to our national security, as well as to legitimate commerce, which has led to an increased level of support from various interest groups, in addition to prior opponents reversing their opposition and endorsing reforms. \nA decade ago, opposition came from interest groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, and secretaries of state particularly in Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming. Fast-forward a few years, and the secretary of state of Delaware endorsed the bill in 2018, and the US Chamber of Commerce just endorsed reform this summer. \nI would say a big turning point in that started around 2016 when the Panama Papers were released. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a sort of pan-journalistic investigative collaborative effort for hundreds of news outlets around the world, published stories that dominated news headlines at the time, after they received a leak of millions of documents relating to individuals who’d been setting up anonymous shell companies to engage in all sorts of unscrupulous activity.\nIt also coincided with us, the FACT Coalition, reaching out to banking trade associations, because we thought, you know, banks have all these anti-money-laundering responsibilities, they need to know who’s opening accounts with them, wouldn’t it be better if the government collected this and then they could check a database? Wouldn’t that save them some money?\nIn August of 2016, the Clearing House Association, which has since merged and become the Bank Policy Institute, endorsed the bills, and that was the first major business trade group to endorse the bills. Pretty soon thereafter, the rest of the banking and credit union trade associations came on board. That was really a turning point, as it opened the door for additional business groups to also sign on and support.\nSo you just had a growing chorus of support among the business community, a reversal of opposition from the state secretaries of state, as well as a growing chorus of support in the national security community, which started, I’d say, after Russia invaded Crimea.\nFolks in the national security community started taking a closer look at sanctions, asking, “How do you enforce sanctions? Can we actually enforce them if people are setting up these anonymous shell companies? Are Russia and China using corruption as a form of foreign policy to undermine our national security?”\nThere was a growing awareness that they were. That snowballed to the point where you’ve got hundreds of national security scholars from Republican and Democratic administrations alike calling for transparency. It was a mix of a few things. But those are the most notable.\nJen Kirby\nWhat do you think will be the immediate impact of this legislation?\nClark Gascoigne\nIt’s going to take a couple years to implement, so it’s going to take a few years to start collecting information and making it available to investigators here at home. \nBut on immediate impact, there’s a recent op-ed in the Toronto Star where anti-corruption advocates in Canada are pushing the Canadian government to address their problem there with anonymous shell companies.\nThe biggest sticking point in Canada to collecting the information on the true owners of companies was the fact that the US didn’t do it, and they didn’t want to get too far out ahead of the United States. Now that we’ve moved forward, folks in Canada are saying their government had been waiting for us, and they’re now likely to follow suit.\nI’ve also been in discussions with diplomats at the State Department for years who feel like they’ve had their hands tied behind their backs when they’re going overseas, talking to places like Singapore and Dubai about collecting this information and getting money laundering issues in their countries in check. Because those officials in Singapore and Dubai officials will just point the fingers back at us and say, “You guys are the worst at anonymous shell companies. How can you tell us that we need to figure out the situation when you don’t even do it yourself?”\nNow that we’ve passed this bill, that we’re moving forward and implementing it, it allows our diplomats to go around the world and to truly push some of the seedier financial hubs around the world to clean up their act. That has just as big of an impact, if not probably a larger impact, than us collecting this information here in the United States."},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Politics","item":"https://www.vox.com/politics"}]}]</script><link rel="preload" as="image" imageSrcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=415 415w, 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62.7h15.4l25.9-54.8c4.2-8.1 8.3-13.1 12.4-13.1z"></path></svg></a><div class="_1bn7g9f7">The US has made its biggest anti-money-laundering changes in years</div><div class="_1bn7g9f9"><button aria-controls="drawer_:Rb6:" aria-label="Open Drawer" class="_1bn7g9fg"><svg width="23" height="17" class="_1bn7g9fb" viewBox="0 0 23 17" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><line x1="0.867188" y1="1.53857" x2="22.8672" y2="1.53857" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"></line><line x1="0.867188" y1="8.53857" x2="22.8672" y2="8.53857" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"></line><line x1="0.867188" y1="15.5386" x2="22.8672" y2="15.5386" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"></line></svg></button></div></div></nav><div class="duet--navigation--wiki-banner _1juo5fm2"><div class="_1agbrix3 _1juo5fm4 _1agbrixy"><h2 class="_1juo5fm8">Clarity in this chaotic news cycle</h2><div class="_1juo5fm6"><div class="_1juo5fm9"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">There’s an overwhelming amount of news, but not enough context. At Vox, we do things differently. We’re not focused on being the first to break stories — <b>we’re focused on helping you understand what actually matters.</b> We report urgently on the most important issues shaping our world, and dedicate time to the issues that the rest of the media often neglects. But we can’t do it alone.</p></div><div class="_1juo5fm7"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1juo5fma">We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. <strong>Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?</strong></p><a class="duet--cta--button bl2rg41 bl2rg40 _1juo5fmb" href="https://www.vox.com/support-now?itm_campaign=feb-2025-wiki&itm_medium=site&itm_source=wikibanner"><span>Join today</span></a></div></div></div></div><div class="duet--page-layout--post _1agbrix0 _1agbrix8 _1agbrix9 _1agbrixa"><main id="content"><div class="_1ugw7dwo _1ugw7dw1 _1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dw22"><div class="_1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dwp" data-concert="tablet_leaderboard"></div></div><div class="_1ugw7dwq _1ugw7dw1 _1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dw24"><div class="_1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dwr" data-concert="desktop_leaderboard_variable"></div></div><article><div class="duet--article--lede duet--page-layout--standard-article"><div class="duet--ledes--standard-lede _135mano0 _1agbrix3"><div class="_135mano1"><div class="dz06u40"><div class="dz06u43"><span class="_160ma52z"><ul class="_1g6d7eud"><li class=""><a href="/politics" class="_1g6d7eu3 xkp0cg5">Politics</a></li></ul></span></div><div class=""><h1 class="h74scy1 h74scy0 h74scy6 xkp0cga xkp0cg9">The US has made its biggest anti-money-laundering changes in years</h1><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup h74scyh h74scyg xkp0cga">Congress included a provision to ban anonymous shell companies in the National Defense Authorization Act.</p></div></div></div><div class=""><div class="_135mano3"><div class="_160ma521 _160ma520"><div class="_160ma528 _160ma52g"><div class="duet--article--article-byline xkp0cga _15r56j10"><p class=""><span>by</span> <span><span></span> <span class="_15r56j12 _15r56j13"><a href="/authors/jen-kirby">Jen Kirby</a></span></span></p></div><span class="duet--article--timestamp _1rf9w8o3 _1rf9w8o1 _1rf9w8o0 xkp0cg5 xkp0cga">Updated <time dateTime="2021-01-04T14:50:31+00:00">Jan 4, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC</time></span></div><div class="_160ma52i _160ma52h _160ma52o _160ma52p"><div class="_160ma52r _160ma52q"><span class="_160ma52z"><ul class="duet--article--share-buttons _9txrgw0"><li><button aria-label="Share on Facebook" class="_9txrgw1"><svg class="_9txrgwc" width="40" height="40" viewBox="0 0 40 40" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title>Facebook</title><path d="M27.0174 21.7497L27.8495 16.3604H22.6403V12.8637C22.6403 11.3906 23.3668 9.95151 25.7019 9.95151H28.0714V5.36435C28.0714 5.36435 25.9212 5 23.866 5C19.5761 5 16.7707 7.57929 16.7707 12.2529V16.3604H12V21.7497H16.7707V34.7746C17.727 34.924 18.707 35 19.7055 35C20.704 35 21.6841 34.9214 22.6403 34.7746V21.7497H27.0174Z" fill=""></path></svg></button></li><li><div class="_9txrgwn"><button aria-label="Copy link" class="_9txrgw1"><svg class="_9txrgwc" width="40" height="40" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 40 40" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title>Link</title><path d="M16.9691 32.9499C14.2358 35.6832 9.78321 35.6832 7.04996 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_1agbrix12"><div class="uui04u1"><div class="duet--layout--entry-body _36bfln0"><div class="duet--ledes--standard-lede-bottom"><div class="_135mano4"><div class="cr8c9y0"><div class="cr8c9y2 cr8c9y1 sticky-nav-trigger"></div><div class="duet--layout--entry-image x1mfgc0"><div class="x1mfgc1 x1mfgc2"><div class="_1agbrixn _1agbrixw"><img alt="Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) is seen on a monitor conducting the House Armed Services Committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act in the Longworth Building on July 1, 2020." data-chromatic="ignore" fetchPriority="high" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 700px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=384 384w, 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https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=2400"/></div><div class="_1agbrixm _1agbrixw"><img alt="Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) is seen on a monitor conducting the House Armed Services Committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act in the Longworth Building on July 1, 2020." data-chromatic="ignore" fetchPriority="high" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 700px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=540 540w, 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https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0046176579239017%2C0%2C99.990764684152%2C100&w=2400"/></div></div><div class="duet--media--caption xptnl10"><figcaption class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup xkp0cg2 xptnl12">Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) is seen on a monitor conducting the House Armed Services Committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act in the Longworth Building on July 1, 2020.</figcaption> <cite class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup xkp0cg2 xptnl11">Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images</cite></div></div></div></div><div class="_135mano5"><div class="_1jvzqea1 _1jvzqea0"><div class="_1j8rw6n0 _1j8rw6n1"><div class="_1j8rw6n3"><img alt="Jen Kirby" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" width="36" height="36" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="_1j8rw6n4" style="color:transparent" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/author_profile_images/20419/kirbyheadshot.0.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=48 1x, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/author_profile_images/20419/kirbyheadshot.0.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=96 2x" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/author_profile_images/20419/kirbyheadshot.0.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=96"/></div><div class="_1j8rw6n5"><a class="_1j8rw6n6" href="/authors/jen-kirby">Jen Kirby</a> <span class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1j8rw6n7">is a senior foreign and national security reporter at Vox, where she covers global instability.</span></div></div></div></div></div><div id="zephr-anchor" class="_1agbrixz"><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">If you’re a corrupt foreign official or drug trafficker, there’s a pretty easy way to protect your illicit cash: create an anonymous shell company.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">You form a shell company — meaning a business that exists only on paper, with no employees, no products it makes or sells, no revenue, nothing except maybe a bank account and some assets — but you do it without disclosing your (the owner’s) real name, offering a convenient way to launder your money and evade law enforcement in the United States.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Except that might now be a lot harder to do in the US. A <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6395">provision</a> in the <a href="/2020/12/14/22174010/trump-veto-ndaa-confederate-bases-section-230-china">National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)</a>, the $741 billion defense bill, will effectively ban anonymous shell companies.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">The NDAA passed with bipartisan support in Congress. <a href="https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2020/12/trump-vetoes-defense-authorization-bill/171027/">Trump vetoed the package</a>, but Congress <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/us/politics/senate-override-trump-defense-bill.html">voted overwhelmingly to override</a> the president’s veto for the first time during Trump’s tenure.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">That means that now, when someone opens a shell corporation, they’ll be required to provide the owner’s name and some basic identifying information. This simple step will give law enforcement and national security officials a powerful tool to crack down on corruption.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">To help understand more about what this new provision does and why it’s so important, I called up Clark Gascoigne, a senior policy adviser at the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, a nongovernmental organization that advocates against corrupt financial practices by promoting transparency and anti-money-laundering policies.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">“This is the biggest anti-money-laundering update that we’ve had in 20 years,” he told me.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.</p></div><div class="duet--article--block-placement _80slsf1 _80slsf0 duet--article--article-body-component"><hr class="duet--article--divider _1agbrixj w7vpv0"/></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So can you explain — in really simple dummy terms — what this law actually does?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So in dummy terms, it will require that, when you form a company in the United States, you simply have to disclose the identity of the true human being who owns the company. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">It asks for four readily available pieces of information: your name, address, date of birth, and an ID number, which could be a driver’s license or passport number. You disclose that to the Treasury Department.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">And that’s it. That’s what it does. When you form the company, you disclose that, and then if you sell it or the company’s ownership changes, you have to update that with the Treasury Department. That’s it.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Okay, so, I’m thinking: If I wanted to start a business, of course I would have to give that information. But you’re telling me that’s not the case for all businesses?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So right now, in the United States — in fact, in every state in the country — you can set up an anonymous shell company. You can create a company without disclosing who the true owner is.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Some states ask for more information than other states, but no state actually asks for the person who ultimately owns the company. It could be a manager that needs to be listed. Some states require a registered agent of the company. There are some states that don’t even require a human being to be listed on the forms anywhere. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">It’s a major problem for law enforcement and national security investigators as they’re pursuing criminal networks or national security threats. When they stumble across an anonymous shell company, they can’t figure out who is behind the company. They just hit this brick wall of corporate secrecy. And investigations often stall, and can, at times, be abandoned due to a lack of time and resources to be able to figure it out and continue to pursue the case.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So having this disclosure is going to be a critical reform that’ll allow investigators to actually follow the money trail.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">I’m thinking,<em> “</em>Why would I want to form an anonymous company?” Maybe it’s because I want to do something that is not exactly aboveboard. Can you explain who, exactly, wants to open an anonymous shell company?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So I would state, first off, that there are many reasons to have a shell company if you want to hold assets. It’s the <em>anonymity</em> that this is going after. You can still incorporate shell companies after this, you just have to disclose who’s behind it to the government. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">The reason that people oftentimes set these anonymous companies up is because they are looking at engaging in nefarious activity. There’s a pretty well-documented history of these anonymous companies being used to undermine various national security safeguards that we have, to hide bad actors and to launder proceeds for a wide variety of crimes.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Anywhere from North Korea setting up anonymous shell companies to evade sanctions on their nuclear proliferation financing to human traffickers who set up anonymous shell companies to own the illicit massage businesses they are operating through in order to stymie law enforcement from figuring out who the criminal kingpins are behind those shell companies.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Gotcha. And my understanding is the US has been a bit of an outlier here until now in allowing this practice. Is that right?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So there’s a number of studies and research that’s gone into this. There was <a href="https://news.byu.edu/news/no-id-needed-form-shell-company-study-finds">a study</a> a few years ago by some academics at the University of Texas, Brigham Young University, and [Australia’s] Griffith University, where they sent emails to corporate-formation companies in hundreds of different countries around the world, intentionally setting off red flags for terror financing, corruption, or drug-trafficking. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">They actually found that the corporate formation agents in the United States were most likely to ignore the red flags and proceed with setting up the companies. There was one corporate-formation agent in Florida who responded saying, “This is clearly dirty money, it could possibly even be terror financing” — and then followed that by saying, “I wouldn’t even consider getting involved for less than $5,000 a month.” So totally willing to do it for a price.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">There’s other studies, too. The World Bank and the United Nations <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2011/10/24/corrupt-money-concealed-in-shell-companies-and-other-opaque-legal-entities-finds-new-star-study">took a look at 150</a> of the largest corruption cases over the past few decades and found that more than three-quarters of them utilize anonymous companies to launder their illicit funds, and US entities were the most common of those companies in those cases. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">It seems the ease with which people could set up anonymous shell companies in the United States made some of the US’s foreign policy tools, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/31/us-money-laundering-shell-company-new-law/">particularly when it came to sanctions</a>, somewhat ineffective. Is that a fair characterization?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">I mean, without knowing who the beneficial owners of companies are, you can sanction any company you want, but a sanctioned individual can just set up another shell company anonymously. And that entity is not sanctioned, and they can just continue with business as usual. And this happens all the time. It’s like whack-a-mole.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Okay, so then this new law sounds pretty good, in that it’s very bad for people who want to launder money.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">This is the biggest anti-money-laundering update that we’ve had in 20 years. It’s a big deal, and it plugs what most people in the national security and law enforcement community view as the biggest loophole in our anti-money-laundering system.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Are there are flaws in it?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">This is, of course, a compromise, right? If I could have waved a magic wand, this is not the bill I would have written.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">But it is a compromise with integrity. Most importantly, the definition of who is a “beneficial owner” in the bill is very strong and will truly identify the ultimate owners of the companies. That’s a big deal.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Now, it doesn’t solve all of our money-laundering problems. One big exemption in this is that while it applies to corporations, limited liability companies, it does not apply to trusts or partnerships.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Partnerships are generally considered lower risk, but trusts are a major issue, particularly because the vast majority of trusts in the United States don’t actually register with their legal contracts.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So you will still be able to set up a trust that could potentially be abused for money laundering after this. That’s something that we’re going to have to take a look at. There are studies that the Government Accountability Office and Treasury Department are going to have to do on the risks posed by trusts. The bill mandates those studies, and hopefully we’ll be able to address that down the road. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">There’s also some concerns around pooled investment vehicles, like hedge funds and private equity funds, that are operated or advised by a registered investment adviser. Law enforcement will be able to tie the fund to the investment adviser, and they’ll know the beneficial ownership information for the investment adviser, but they won’t know it for the fund itself.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">There is a big concern around that because you’ve got trillions of dollars in money going into these private pooled investment funds that could potentially pose some risk for money laundering.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">When it comes to those pooled investments, just to make sure I’m understanding this: So if I have dirty money, and I am putting it into this fund with a lot of other investments, it basically muddies the waters. You know who’s managing the fund, but you have no way to pull out each investment, correct?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Correct, yeah.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Gotcha. Okay, so is this law retroactive? If you already have an anonymous shell company, must you now register? Or does it all begin once the law goes into effect?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">It applies both to new companies formed after this law, as well as to existing companies. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">The Treasury Department will have one year to issue final rules spelling out exactly how this will be implemented, at which point new companies will immediately have to start reporting their ownership information. There will be a two-year grace period, though, for existing companies to come into compliance. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So why now? You say this is the biggest update to the US’s anti-money-laundering regime in 20 years, but what was the impetus in Congress to actually agree on this right now?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">You know, the last update to our anti-money-laundering laws <a href="https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1680&context=lj">was included in the US Patriot Act back after 9/11</a>. There was a clear reaction to the terror attacks on 9/11 that led to the updates in our anti-money-laundering laws at that time.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">We don’t have anything similar to that right now. However, there has been a growing understanding of the strategic threats that anonymous shell companies posed to our national security, as well as to legitimate commerce, which has led to an increased level of support from various interest groups, in addition to prior opponents reversing their opposition and endorsing reforms. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">A decade ago, opposition came from interest groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, and secretaries of state particularly in Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming. Fast-forward a few years, and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/delaware-backs-overhaul-of-shell-company-rules-1529946813">the secretary of state of Delaware endorsed the bill in 2018</a>, and the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/11/anonymous-shell-company-us-ban/">US Chamber of Commerce</a> just endorsed reform this summer. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">I would say a big turning point in that started around 2016 <a href="/2016/4/3/11356326/panama-papers">when the Panama Papers were released</a>. The <a href="https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/">International Consortium of Investigative Journalists</a>, a sort of pan-journalistic investigative collaborative effort for hundreds of news outlets around the world, published stories that dominated news headlines at the time, after they received a leak of millions of documents relating to individuals <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/news/panama-papers-four-years-on-anonymous-companies-and-global-wealth#">who’d been setting up anonymous shell companies to engage in all sorts of unscrupulous activity</a>.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">It also coincided with us, the FACT Coalition, reaching out to banking trade associations, because we thought, you know, banks have all these anti-money-laundering responsibilities, they need to know who’s opening accounts with them, wouldn’t it be better if the government collected this and then they could check a database? Wouldn’t that save them some money?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">In August of 2016, the Clearing House Association, which has since merged and become <a href="https://bpi.com/bpi-applauds-passage-of-legislation-to-reform-anti-money-laundering-framework-and-end-anonymous-shell-companies/">the Bank Policy Institute</a>, endorsed the bills, and that was the first major business trade group to endorse the bills. Pretty soon thereafter, the rest of the banking and credit union trade associations came on board. That was really a turning point, as it opened the door for additional business groups to also sign on and support.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">So you just had a growing chorus of support among the business community, a reversal of opposition from the state secretaries of state, as well as a growing chorus of support in the national security community, which started, I’d say, after <a href="/2014/9/3/18088560/ukraine-everything-you-need-to-know">Russia invaded Crimea</a>.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Folks in the national security community started taking a closer look at sanctions, asking, “How do you enforce sanctions? Can we actually enforce them if people are setting up these anonymous shell companies? Are Russia and China using corruption as a form of foreign policy to undermine our national security?”</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">There was a growing awareness that they were. That snowballed to the point where you’ve got hundreds of national security scholars from Republican and Democratic administrations alike calling for transparency. It was a mix of a few things. But those are the most notable.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="jen-kirby" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Jen Kirby</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">What do you think will be the immediate impact of this legislation?</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><div id="clark-gascoigne" class="_7ka5u2 _7ka5u0 duet--article--standard-heading xkp0cg1"><h3 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Clark Gascoigne</h3></div></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">It’s going to take a couple years to implement, so it’s going to take a few years to start collecting information and making it available to investigators here at home. </p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">But on immediate impact, there’s a recent op-ed in the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/12/17/us-commitment-to-end-corporate-secrecy-should-urge-canada-to-act.html">Toronto Star</a> where anti-corruption advocates in Canada are pushing the Canadian government to address their problem there with anonymous shell companies.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">The biggest sticking point in Canada to collecting the information on the true owners of companies was the fact that the US didn’t do it, and they didn’t want to get too far out ahead of the United States. Now that we’ve moved forward, folks in Canada are saying their government had been waiting for us, and they’re now likely to follow suit.</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">I’ve also been in discussions with diplomats at the State Department for years who feel like they’ve had their hands tied behind their backs when they’re going overseas, talking to places like Singapore and Dubai about collecting this information and getting money laundering issues in their countries in check. Because those officials in Singapore and Dubai officials will just point the fingers back at us and say, “You guys are the worst at anonymous shell companies. How can you tell us that we need to figure out the situation when you don’t even do it yourself?”</p></div><div class="duet--article--article-body-component"><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixi lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg1">Now that we’ve passed this bill, that we’re moving forward and implementing it, it allows our diplomats to go around the world and to truly push some of the seedier financial hubs around the world to clean up their act. That has just as big of an impact, if not probably a larger impact, than us collecting this information here in the United States.</p></div><div class="_1mls1bj0"><span class="_1mls1bj1">See More:<span class="_1mls1bj2"> </span></span><ul class="_1g6d7eue"><li class="_1g6d7euc fatpw50"><a href="/politics" class="_1g6d7eu8">Politics</a></li><li class="_1g6d7euc fatpw50"><a href="/world-politics" class="_1g6d7eu8">World Politics</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="duet--layout--rail x2c1mg0 x2c1mg1"><div class="x2c1mg2 x2c1mg4 x2c1mg8"><div class="_1ugw7dw1e _1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dw24"><div class="_1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dw1f" data-concert="medium_rectangle_variable"></div></div></div><div class="x2c1mg2 x2c1mg5 x2c1mg8"><div class="duet--layout--header-pattern _1agbrixg x2c1mg7"><div class="_1iaikll3"><div class="_1yizdi80"><div class="_1yizdi8h _1yizdi8f"><h2 class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1yizdi8m _1yizdi8l xkp0cg2 xkp0cg1">Most Popular</h2></div><div class="sticky-nav-trigger"></div></div></div><div class="_1iaikll4"><div class="clkeg30"><ol class="clkeg31"><li class="clkeg34 clkeg33"><a href="/health/401130/texas-new-mexico-measles-rfk-hhs-response"><div class="clkeg39">What RFK Jr. has said about the ongoing measles outbreak</div></a><div class="clkeg37 clkeg36 _1agbrixy"></div></li><li class="clkeg34 clkeg33"><a href="/donald-trump/401174/trump-fired-generals"><div class="clkeg39">What Trump’s military purge was really about</div></a><div class="clkeg37 clkeg36 _1agbrixy"></div></li><li class="clkeg34 clkeg33"><a href="/politics/401247/american-democracy-resilient-trump-authoritarian"><div class="clkeg39">Three reasons why American democracy will likely withstand Trump</div></a><div class="clkeg37 clkeg36 _1agbrixy"></div></li><li class="clkeg34 clkeg33"><a href="/culture/401197/andrew-tate-trump-support-richard-grenell-tweet"><div class="clkeg39">Why the Trump administration is publicly supporting an alleged human trafficker</div></a><div class="clkeg37 clkeg36 _1agbrixy"></div></li><li class="clkeg34 clkeg33"><a href="/scotus/401450/supreme-court-ames-ohio-dei-background-circumstances"><div class="clkeg39">The Supreme Court is in “radical agreement” that a bizarre DEI rule needs to go</div></a></li></ol></div></div></div></div><div class="x2c1mg2 x2c1mg8"><div><div class="_1ugw7dw1u _1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dw24"><div class="_1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dw1v" data-concert="medium_rectangle_gamestop"></div></div><div class="_1ugw7dw1m _1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dw24"><div class="_1ugw7dw0 _1ugw7dw1n" data-concert="connatix_right_rail"></div></div></div></div><div class="x2c1mg2 x2c1mg6 x2c1mg8"><div><form class="mr4kua0 _1agbrixy _1agbrixj mr4kua5"><div class="duet--cta--newsletter mr4kua9"><div class="mr4kuad"><h2 class="mr4kuah">Today, Explained</h2><p class="mr4kuai"><span class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup">Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day, compiled by news editor Sean Collins.</span></p></div><div class="mr4kuaq mr4kuar"><fieldset><div class="mr4kuat"><div class="duet--cta--form-field-text bwzmda0 mr4kuax"><label for="email" class="_1vr06930 _142ra0g0">Email (required)</label><div class="bwzmda1"><input id="email" class="_1vr06931" aria-invalid="false" name="email" type="email" required="" placeholder="Enter your email"/></div></div><button class="duet--cta--button bl2rg41 bl2rg40 mr4kua12" type="submit"><span>Sign Up</span></button></div></fieldset><div class="mr4kua17"><div class="mr4kuaj">By submitting your email, you agree to our <a href="https://www.voxmedia.com/legal/terms-of-use" class="mr4kua16">Terms</a> and <a href="https://www.voxmedia.com/legal/privacy-notice" class="mr4kua16">Privacy Notice</a>. 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https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0031665611146252%2C0%2C99.993666877771%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0031665611146252%2C0%2C99.993666877771%2C100&w=2400"/></div><div class="ap1uvv1"><div class=""><div class=""><div><div class="xkp0cg9 _1neefee9 _1neefee2"><a class="qcd9z1" href="/elon-musk/401274/musk-doge-polls-republicans-trump">Will the backlash to Elon Musk hurt Republicans?</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class=""><div class="ap1uvv0 qcd9z0 _102m78f3"><div class="_1k0rii4 _1k0rii0"></div><div class="ap1uvv2 _102m78f3"><img alt="Three reasons why American democracy will likely withstand Trump" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="221px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=48 48w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=64 64w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=96 96w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=128 128w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2035838894.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.014281633818911%2C100%2C99.971436732362&w=2400"/></div><div class="ap1uvv1"><div class=""><div class=""><div><div class="xkp0cg9 _1neefee9 _1neefee2"><a class="qcd9z1" href="/politics/401247/american-democracy-resilient-trump-authoritarian">Three reasons why American democracy will likely withstand Trump</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="a0d76n2"><div class="duet--content-cards--content-card _1agz5xb3 _1agz5xb0 qcd9z0 _1agz5xbj"><div class="_1agz5xb9 _1agz5xb6 _1agz5xbc _1agz5xbh _102m78f3"><img alt="This animal is on the edge of extinction. Trump just fired the people trying to save it." data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbf mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="100px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=48 48w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=64 64w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=96 96w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=128 128w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.757694186615%2C0%2C64.484611626771%2C100&w=2400"/><img alt="This animal is on the edge of extinction. Trump just fired the people trying to save it." data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbg mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="195px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=48 48w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=64 64w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=96 96w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=128 128w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/AP110928050852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=1.6365412799218%2C0%2C96.726917440156%2C100&w=2400"/></div><div class="_1agz5xbi"><div class=""><div class=""><div class="_1k0rii4 _1k0rii0"><span class="_1g6d7eu0 xkp0cg7 xkp0cg5">Down to Earth</span><span class="duet--article--timestamp _1rf9w8o2 _1rf9w8o0 xkp0cg5 _1agbrixr"><time dateTime="2025-02-26T19:05:00+00:00">51 minutes ago</time></span></div><div><div class="xkp0cg9 _1neefee5 _1neefee2"><a class="qcd9z1" href="/down-to-earth/401389/trump-doge-fish-wildife-service-black-footed-ferret">This animal is on the edge of extinction. Trump just fired the people trying to save it.</a></div></div><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1neefeej _1neefeee _1neefeef">Job cuts and frozen funding could inch one of the world’s rarest species even closer to extinction.</p><div class="_1k0riie _1k0rii0"><span class="u2goo40">By </span><span class="u2goo42 xkp0cg5"><span><span>Benji Jones</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="duet--content-cards--content-card _1agz5xb3 _1agz5xb0 qcd9z0"><div class="_1agz5xb9 _1agz5xb6 _1agz5xbc _1agz5xbh _102m78f3"><img alt="President Trump’s first 100 days" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbf mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="100px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=32 32w, 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style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="195px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=48 48w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=64 64w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=96 96w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=128 128w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=256 256w, 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https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-2196938705.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400"/></div><div class="_1agz5xbi"><div class=""><div class=""><div class="_1k0rii4 _1k0rii0"><span class="ujex72 ujex70">LIVE</span><span class="duet--article--timestamp _1rf9w8o2 _1rf9w8o0 xkp0cg5 _1k0rii1"><time dateTime="2025-02-26T19:05:00+00:00">51 minutes ago</time></span></div><div><div class="xkp0cg9 _1neefee5 _1neefee2"><a class="qcd9z1" href="/donald-trump/395680/live-updates-donald-trump-executive-orders-policy">President Trump’s first 100 days</a></div></div><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1neefeej _1neefeee _1neefeef">Trump appears intent on remaking the executive branch as he sees fit. The news is changing rapidly. Follow here for the latest updates, analysis, and explainers.</p><div class="_1k0riie _1k0rii0"><span class="u2goo40">By </span><span class="u2goo42 xkp0cg5"><span><span>Vox Staff</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="duet--content-cards--content-card _1agz5xb3 _1agz5xb0 qcd9z0"><div class="_1agz5xb9 _1agz5xb6 _1agz5xbc _1agz5xbh _102m78f3"><img alt="The Supreme Court is in “radical agreement” that a bizarre DEI rule needs to go" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbf mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="100px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=48 48w, 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style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="195px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=48 48w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=64 64w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=96 96w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=128 128w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=256 256w, 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https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-1246877738.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400"/></div><div class="_1agz5xbi"><div class=""><div class=""><div class="_1k0rii4 _1k0rii0"><span class="_1g6d7eu0 xkp0cg7 xkp0cg5">Supreme Court</span><span class="duet--article--timestamp _1rf9w8o2 _1rf9w8o0 xkp0cg5 _1agbrixr"><time dateTime="2025-02-26T17:10:00+00:00">Two hours ago</time></span></div><div><div class="xkp0cg9 _1neefee5 _1neefee2"><a class="qcd9z1" href="/scotus/401450/supreme-court-ames-ohio-dei-background-circumstances">The Supreme Court is in “radical agreement” that a bizarre DEI rule needs to go</a></div></div><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1neefeej _1neefeee _1neefeef">The first DEI case of Trump’s second term turns out to be an easy win against a rule that no one likes.</p><div class="_1k0riie _1k0rii0"><span class="u2goo40">By </span><span class="u2goo42 xkp0cg5"><span><span>Ian Millhiser</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="duet--content-cards--content-card _1agz5xb3 _1agz5xb0 qcd9z0"><div class="_1agz5xb9 _1agz5xb6 _1agz5xbc _1agz5xbh _102m78f3"><img alt="The man trying to turn prosecutors loose against Trump’s enemies" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbf mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="100px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=48 48w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=64 64w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=96 96w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=128 128w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=17.093551316985%2C0%2C65.812897366031%2C100&w=2400"/><img alt="The man trying to turn prosecutors loose against Trump’s enemies" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbg mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="195px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=48 48w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=64 64w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=96 96w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=128 128w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=256 256w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=376 376w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=384 384w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=415 415w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=480 480w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=540 540w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=640 640w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=750 750w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=828 828w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=1080 1080w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=1200 1200w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=1440 1440w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=1920 1920w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/GettyImages-1229478417.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.64032697547683%2C0%2C98.719346049046%2C100&w=2400"/></div><div class="_1agz5xbi"><div class=""><div class=""><div class="_1k0rii4 _1k0rii0"><span class="_1g6d7eu0 xkp0cg7 xkp0cg5">Politics</span><span class="duet--article--timestamp _1rf9w8o2 _1rf9w8o0 xkp0cg5 _1agbrixr"><time dateTime="2025-02-26T12:15:00+00:00">12:15 PM UTC</time></span></div><div><div class="xkp0cg9 _1neefee5 _1neefee2"><a class="qcd9z1" href="/politics/401327/ed-martin-us-attorney-office-dc">The man trying to turn prosecutors loose against Trump’s enemies</a></div></div><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1neefeej _1neefeee _1neefeef">Ed Martin went from a little-known conservative activist to US Attorney for DC — all because of Stop the Steal.</p><div class="_1k0riie _1k0rii0"><span class="u2goo40">By </span><span class="u2goo42 xkp0cg5"><span><span>Andrew Prokop</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="duet--content-cards--content-card _1agz5xb3 _1agz5xb0 qcd9z0"><div class="_1agz5xb9 _1agz5xb6 _1agz5xbc _1agz5xbh _102m78f3"><img alt="Will the backlash to Elon Musk hurt Republicans?" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbf mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="100px" srcSet="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.66877770741%2C0%2C66.66244458518%2C100&w=16 16w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.66877770741%2C0%2C66.66244458518%2C100&w=32 32w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.66877770741%2C0%2C66.66244458518%2C100&w=48 48w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.66877770741%2C0%2C66.66244458518%2C100&w=64 64w, 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src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.66877770741%2C0%2C66.66244458518%2C100&w=2400"/><img alt="Will the backlash to Elon Musk hurt Republicans?" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbg mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' 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https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0031665611146252%2C0%2C99.993666877771%2C100&w=2048 2048w, https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0031665611146252%2C0%2C99.993666877771%2C100&w=2400 2400w" src="https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/gettyimages-2200924457.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0031665611146252%2C0%2C99.993666877771%2C100&w=2400"/></div><div class="_1agz5xbi"><div class=""><div class=""><div class="_1k0rii4 _1k0rii0"><span class="xkp0cg7 xkp0cg5 _1k0riib">Trump 2.0, explained</span><span class="duet--article--timestamp _1rf9w8o2 _1rf9w8o0 xkp0cg5 _1agbrixr"><time dateTime="2025-02-26T12:00:00+00:00">12:00 PM UTC</time></span></div><div><div class="xkp0cg9 _1neefee5 _1neefee2"><a class="qcd9z1" href="/elon-musk/401274/musk-doge-polls-republicans-trump">Will the backlash to Elon Musk hurt Republicans?</a></div></div><p class="duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1neefeej _1neefeee _1neefeef">Polls show DOGE’s federal government purge is politically polarizing.</p><div class="_1k0riie _1k0rii0"><span class="u2goo40">By </span><span class="u2goo42 xkp0cg5"><span><span>Nicole Narea</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="duet--content-cards--content-card _1agz5xb3 _1agz5xb0 qcd9z0 _1agz5xbk _1agz5xbl"><div class="_1agz5xb9 _1agz5xb6 _1agz5xbc _1agz5xbh _102m78f3"><img alt="Three reasons why American democracy will likely withstand Trump" data-chromatic="ignore" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbf mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' 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data-nimg="fill" class="_1agz5xbg mvmjsc0" style="position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="195px" 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All Rights Reserved</p></div></div></footer></div></div><div id="mixer-modal-root"></div><script id="__NEXT_DATA__" type="application/json">{"props":{"pageProps":{"_sentryTraceData":"c281f5981766cdc2bd2608d1062b0558-108c80b584029f87","_sentryBaggage":"sentry-environment=production,sentry-release=7Ca0E38X3F4GPqRgFK6PB,sentry-public_key=dda62d08b807fc79b0fff14e1d7dd23d,sentry-trace_id=c281f5981766cdc2bd2608d1062b0558","hydration":{"responses":[{"operationName":"PostLayoutQuery","variables":{"nodeId":"dngyOnBvc3Q6Mzc4MTk="},"data":{"node":{"__typename":"PostResourceType","globalId":"dngyOnBvc3Q6Mzc4MTk","title":"The US has made its biggest anti-money-laundering changes in years","permalink":"https://www.vox.com/22188223/congress-anti-money-laundering-anonymous-shell-companies-ban-defense-bill","customCss":"","comments":{"enabled":false,"mode":"standard"},"chorusUuid":"56098368-0b87-4b05-8854-b461b75d511a","chorusId":21952264,"path":"/22188223/congress-anti-money-laundering-anonymous-shell-companies-ban-defense-bill","resourceType":"post","template":null,"authors":[{"id":"dngyOmF1dGhvclByb2ZpbGU6NTAyMw==","name":"Jen Kirby","permalink":"https://www.vox.com/authors/jen-kirby","shortBio":[{"html":"is a senior foreign and national security reporter at Vox, where she covers global instability."}],"profileImage":{"thumbnails":{"square":{"url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/author_profile_images/20419/kirbyheadshot.0.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all\u0026crop=0,0,100,100"}},"id":"dngyOmltYWdlOjUwMjk="},"title":"Former Vox Staff"}],"primaryCampaign":null,"articlePackage":null,"categories":[{"title":"Politics","path":"/politics","slug":"politics","id":"dngyOmNhdGVnb3J5OjgwMQ==","isHub":true},{"title":"World Politics","path":"/world-politics","slug":"world-politics","id":"dngyOmNhdGVnb3J5OjkxNg==","isHub":true}],"primaryCategory":{"newsletter":null,"id":"dngyOmNhdGVnb3J5OjgwMQ==","title":"Politics","path":"/politics","parent":null,"slug":"politics","permalink":"https://www.vox.com/politics","isHub":true},"internalCategories":[{"slug":"old-politics","id":"dngyOmludGVybmFsQ2F0ZWdvcnk6MjcwMg=="}],"games":{"nodes":[]},"blocks":[{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"If you\u0026rsquo;re a corrupt foreign official or drug trafficker, there\u0026rsquo;s a pretty easy way to protect your illicit cash: create an anonymous shell company."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"You form a shell company \u0026mdash; meaning a business that exists only on paper, with no employees, no products it makes or sells, no revenue, nothing except maybe a bank account and some assets \u0026mdash; but you do it without disclosing your (the owner\u0026rsquo;s) real name, offering a convenient way to launder your money and evade law enforcement in the United States."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Except that might now be a lot harder to do in the US. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6395\"\u003eprovision\u003c/a\u003e in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2020/12/14/22174010/trump-veto-ndaa-confederate-bases-section-230-china\"\u003eNational Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)\u003c/a\u003e, the $741 billion defense bill, will effectively ban anonymous shell companies."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"The NDAA passed with bipartisan support in Congress. \u003ca href=\"https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2020/12/trump-vetoes-defense-authorization-bill/171027/\"\u003eTrump vetoed the package\u003c/a\u003e, but Congress \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/us/politics/senate-override-trump-defense-bill.html\"\u003evoted overwhelmingly to override\u003c/a\u003e the president\u0026rsquo;s veto for the first time during Trump\u0026rsquo;s tenure."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"That means that now, when someone opens a shell corporation, they\u0026rsquo;ll be required to provide the owner\u0026rsquo;s name and some basic identifying information. This simple step will give law enforcement and national security officials a powerful tool to crack down on corruption."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"To help understand more about what this new provision does and why it\u0026rsquo;s so important, I called up Clark Gascoigne, a senior policy adviser at the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, a nongovernmental organization that advocates against corrupt financial practices by promoting transparency and anti-money-laundering policies."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"\u0026ldquo;This is the biggest anti-money-laundering update that we\u0026rsquo;ve had in 20 years,\u0026rdquo; he told me."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreSeparatorBlockType","__typename":"CoreSeparatorBlockType","blockName":"coreSeparator","placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So can you explain \u0026mdash; in really simple dummy terms \u0026mdash; what this law actually does?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So in dummy terms, it will require that, when you form a company in the United States, you simply have to disclose the identity of the true human being who owns the company. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"It asks for four readily available pieces of information: your name, address, date of birth, and an ID number, which could be a driver\u0026rsquo;s license or passport number. You disclose that to the Treasury Department."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"And that\u0026rsquo;s it. That\u0026rsquo;s what it does. When you form the company, you disclose that, and then if you sell it or the company\u0026rsquo;s ownership changes, you have to update that with the Treasury Department. That\u0026rsquo;s it."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Okay, so, I\u0026rsquo;m thinking: If I wanted to start a business, of course I would have to give that information. But you\u0026rsquo;re telling me that\u0026rsquo;s not the case for all businesses?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So right now, in the United States \u0026mdash; in fact, in every state in the country \u0026mdash; you can set up an anonymous shell company. You can create a company without disclosing who the true owner is."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Some states ask for more information than other states, but no state actually asks for the person who ultimately owns the company. It could be a manager that needs to be listed. Some states require a registered agent of the company. There are some states that don\u0026rsquo;t even require a human being to be listed on the forms anywhere. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"It\u0026rsquo;s a major problem for law enforcement and national security investigators as they\u0026rsquo;re pursuing criminal networks or national security threats. When they stumble across an anonymous shell company, they can\u0026rsquo;t figure out who is behind the company. They just hit this brick wall of corporate secrecy. And investigations often stall, and can, at times, be abandoned due to a lack of time and resources to be able to figure it out and continue to pursue the case."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So having this disclosure is going to be a critical reform that\u0026rsquo;ll allow investigators to actually follow the money trail."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"I\u0026rsquo;m thinking,\u003cem\u003e \u0026ldquo;\u003c/em\u003eWhy would I want to form an anonymous company?\u0026rdquo; Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s because I want to do something that is not exactly aboveboard. Can you explain who, exactly, wants to open an anonymous shell company?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So I would state, first off, that there are many reasons to have a shell company if you want to hold assets. It\u0026rsquo;s the \u003cem\u003eanonymity\u003c/em\u003e that this is going after. You can still incorporate shell companies after this, you just have to disclose who\u0026rsquo;s behind it to the government. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"The reason that people oftentimes set these anonymous companies up is because they are looking at engaging in nefarious activity. There\u0026rsquo;s a pretty well-documented history of these anonymous companies being used to undermine various national security safeguards that we have, to hide bad actors and to launder proceeds for a wide variety of crimes."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Anywhere from North Korea setting up anonymous shell companies to evade sanctions on their nuclear proliferation financing to human traffickers who set up anonymous shell companies to own the illicit massage businesses they are operating through in order to stymie law enforcement from figuring out who the criminal kingpins are behind those shell companies."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Gotcha. And my understanding is the US has been a bit of an outlier here until now in allowing this practice. Is that right?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So there\u0026rsquo;s a number of studies and research that\u0026rsquo;s gone into this. There was \u003ca href=\"https://news.byu.edu/news/no-id-needed-form-shell-company-study-finds\"\u003ea study\u003c/a\u003e a few years ago by some academics at the University of Texas, Brigham Young University, and [Australia\u0026rsquo;s] Griffith University, where they sent emails to corporate-formation companies in hundreds of different countries around the world, intentionally setting off red flags for terror financing, corruption, or drug-trafficking. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"They actually found that the corporate formation agents in the United States were most likely to ignore the red flags and proceed with setting up the companies. There was one corporate-formation agent in Florida who responded saying, \u0026ldquo;This is clearly dirty money, it could possibly even be terror financing\u0026rdquo; \u0026mdash; and then followed that by saying, \u0026ldquo;I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t even consider getting involved for less than $5,000 a month.\u0026rdquo; So totally willing to do it for a price."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"There\u0026rsquo;s other studies, too. The World Bank and the United Nations \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2011/10/24/corrupt-money-concealed-in-shell-companies-and-other-opaque-legal-entities-finds-new-star-study\"\u003etook a look at 150\u003c/a\u003e of the largest corruption cases over the past few decades and found that more than three-quarters of them utilize anonymous companies to launder their illicit funds, and US entities were the most common of those companies in those cases. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"It seems the ease with which people could set up anonymous shell companies in the United States made some of the US\u0026rsquo;s foreign policy tools, \u003ca href=\"https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/31/us-money-laundering-shell-company-new-law/\"\u003eparticularly when it came to sanctions\u003c/a\u003e, somewhat ineffective. Is that a fair characterization?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"I mean, without knowing who the beneficial owners of companies are, you can sanction any company you want, but a sanctioned individual can just set up another shell company anonymously. And that entity is not sanctioned, and they can just continue with business as usual. And this happens all the time. It\u0026rsquo;s like whack-a-mole."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Okay, so then this new law sounds pretty good, in that it\u0026rsquo;s very bad for people who want to launder money."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"This is the biggest anti-money-laundering update that we\u0026rsquo;ve had in 20 years. It\u0026rsquo;s a big deal, and it plugs what most people in the national security and law enforcement community view as the biggest loophole in our anti-money-laundering system."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Are there are flaws in it?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"This is, of course, a compromise, right? If I could have waved a magic wand, this is not the bill I would have written."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"But it is a compromise with integrity. Most importantly, the definition of who is a \u0026ldquo;beneficial owner\u0026rdquo; in the bill is very strong and will truly identify the ultimate owners of the companies. That\u0026rsquo;s a big deal."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Now, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t solve all of our money-laundering problems. One big exemption in this is that while it applies to corporations, limited liability companies, it does not apply to trusts or partnerships."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Partnerships are generally considered lower risk, but trusts are a major issue, particularly because the vast majority of trusts in the United States don\u0026rsquo;t actually register with their legal contracts."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So you will still be able to set up a trust that could potentially be abused for money laundering after this. That\u0026rsquo;s something that we\u0026rsquo;re going to have to take a look at. There are studies that the Government Accountability Office and Treasury Department are going to have to do on the risks posed by trusts. The bill mandates those studies, and hopefully we\u0026rsquo;ll be able to address that down the road. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"There\u0026rsquo;s also some concerns around pooled investment vehicles, like hedge funds and private equity funds, that are operated or advised by a registered investment adviser. Law enforcement will be able to tie the fund to the investment adviser, and they\u0026rsquo;ll know the beneficial ownership information for the investment adviser, but they won\u0026rsquo;t know it for the fund itself."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"There is a big concern around that because you\u0026rsquo;ve got trillions of dollars in money going into these private pooled investment funds that could potentially pose some risk for money laundering."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"When it comes to those pooled investments, just to make sure I\u0026rsquo;m understanding this: So if I have dirty money, and I am putting it into this fund with a lot of other investments, it basically muddies the waters. You know who\u0026rsquo;s managing the fund, but you have no way to pull out each investment, correct?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Correct, yeah."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Gotcha. Okay, so is this law retroactive? If you already have an anonymous shell company, must you now register? Or does it all begin once the law goes into effect?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"It applies both to new companies formed after this law, as well as to existing companies. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"The Treasury Department will have one year to issue final rules spelling out exactly how this will be implemented, at which point new companies will immediately have to start reporting their ownership information. There will be a two-year grace period, though, for existing companies to come into compliance. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So why now? You say this is the biggest update to the US\u0026rsquo;s anti-money-laundering regime in 20 years, but what was the impetus in Congress to actually agree on this right now?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"You know, the last update to our anti-money-laundering laws \u003ca href=\"https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1680\u0026context=lj\"\u003ewas included in the US Patriot Act back after 9/11\u003c/a\u003e. There was a clear reaction to the terror attacks on 9/11 that led to the updates in our anti-money-laundering laws at that time."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"We don\u0026rsquo;t have anything similar to that right now. However, there has been a growing understanding of the strategic threats that anonymous shell companies posed to our national security, as well as to legitimate commerce, which has led to an increased level of support from various interest groups, in addition to prior opponents reversing their opposition and endorsing reforms. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"A decade ago, opposition came from interest groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, and secretaries of state particularly in Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming. Fast-forward a few years, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/delaware-backs-overhaul-of-shell-company-rules-1529946813\"\u003ethe secretary of state of Delaware endorsed the bill in 2018\u003c/a\u003e, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/11/anonymous-shell-company-us-ban/\"\u003eUS Chamber of Commerce\u003c/a\u003e just endorsed reform this summer. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"I would say a big turning point in that started around 2016 \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2016/4/3/11356326/panama-papers\"\u003ewhen the Panama Papers were released\u003c/a\u003e. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/\"\u003eInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists\u003c/a\u003e, a sort of pan-journalistic investigative collaborative effort for hundreds of news outlets around the world, published stories that dominated news headlines at the time, after they received a leak of millions of documents relating to individuals \u003ca href=\"https://www.transparency.org/en/news/panama-papers-four-years-on-anonymous-companies-and-global-wealth#\"\u003ewho\u0026rsquo;d been setting up anonymous shell companies to engage in all sorts of unscrupulous activity\u003c/a\u003e."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"It also coincided with us, the FACT Coalition, reaching out to banking trade associations, because we thought, you know, banks have all these anti-money-laundering responsibilities, they need to know who\u0026rsquo;s opening accounts with them, wouldn\u0026rsquo;t it be better if the government collected this and then they could check a database? Wouldn\u0026rsquo;t that save them some money?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"In August of 2016, the Clearing House Association, which has since merged and become \u003ca href=\"https://bpi.com/bpi-applauds-passage-of-legislation-to-reform-anti-money-laundering-framework-and-end-anonymous-shell-companies/\"\u003ethe Bank Policy Institute\u003c/a\u003e, endorsed the bills, and that was the first major business trade group to endorse the bills. Pretty soon thereafter, the rest of the banking and credit union trade associations came on board. That was really a turning point, as it opened the door for additional business groups to also sign on and support."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"So you just had a growing chorus of support among the business community, a reversal of opposition from the state secretaries of state, as well as a growing chorus of support in the national security community, which started, I\u0026rsquo;d say, after \u003ca href=\"https://www.vox.com/2014/9/3/18088560/ukraine-everything-you-need-to-know\"\u003eRussia invaded Crimea\u003c/a\u003e."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Folks in the national security community started taking a closer look at sanctions, asking, \u0026ldquo;How do you enforce sanctions? Can we actually enforce them if people are setting up these anonymous shell companies? Are Russia and China using corruption as a form of foreign policy to undermine our national security?\u0026rdquo;"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"There was a growing awareness that they were. That snowballed to the point where you\u0026rsquo;ve got hundreds of national security scholars from Republican and Democratic administrations alike calling for transparency. It was a mix of a few things. But those are the most notable."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Jen Kirby"},"headingId":"jen-kirby","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"What do you think will be the immediate impact of this legislation?"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreHeadingBlockType","__typename":"CoreHeadingBlockType","contents":{"html":"Clark Gascoigne"},"headingId":"clark-gascoigne","level":3,"placement":"default"},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"It\u0026rsquo;s going to take a couple years to implement, so it\u0026rsquo;s going to take a few years to start collecting information and making it available to investigators here at home. "},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"But on immediate impact, there\u0026rsquo;s a recent op-ed in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/12/17/us-commitment-to-end-corporate-secrecy-should-urge-canada-to-act.html\"\u003eToronto Star\u003c/a\u003e where anti-corruption advocates in Canada are pushing the Canadian government to address their problem there with anonymous shell companies."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"The biggest sticking point in Canada to collecting the information on the true owners of companies was the fact that the US didn\u0026rsquo;t do it, and they didn\u0026rsquo;t want to get too far out ahead of the United States. Now that we\u0026rsquo;ve moved forward, folks in Canada are saying their government had been waiting for us, and they\u0026rsquo;re now likely to follow suit."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"I\u0026rsquo;ve also been in discussions with diplomats at the State Department for years who feel like they\u0026rsquo;ve had their hands tied behind their backs when they\u0026rsquo;re going overseas, talking to places like Singapore and Dubai about collecting this information and getting money laundering issues in their countries in check. Because those officials in Singapore and Dubai officials will just point the fingers back at us and say, \u0026ldquo;You guys are the worst at anonymous shell companies. How can you tell us that we need to figure out the situation when you don\u0026rsquo;t even do it yourself?\u0026rdquo;"},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false},{"__isBlockType":"CoreParagraphBlockType","__typename":"CoreParagraphBlockType","contents":{"html":"Now that we\u0026rsquo;ve passed this bill, that we\u0026rsquo;re moving forward and implementing it, it allows our diplomats to go around the world and to truly push some of the seedier financial hubs around the world to clean up their act. That has just as big of an impact, if not probably a larger impact, than us collecting this information here in the United States."},"dropcap":false,"endmark":false,"lead":false}],"__isResolvedResourceInterface":"PostResourceType","id":"dngyOnBvc3Q6Mzc4MTk=","wpId":37819,"__isContentResourceInterface":"PostResourceType","featuredImage":{"image":{"originalUrl":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all","wpId":37813,"id":"dngyOmltYWdlOjM3ODEz","title":"","alt":"","originalHeight":3609,"originalWidth":5414,"thumbnails":{"social":{"url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all\u0026crop=0,11.908285568801,100,78.541284949349","mimeType":"imageJpg","normalizedRatio":1.91,"cropCoordinates":{"height":78.54128494934857,"width":100}}}}},"__isFeedContentResourceInterface":"PostResourceType","dek":{"plaintext":"Congress included a provision to ban anonymous shell companies in the National Defense Authorization Act.","html":"Congress included a provision to ban anonymous shell companies in the National Defense Authorization Act."},"robots":{"index":true,"follow":true},"canonicalUrlOverride":"","originalPublishedAt":"2020-12-21T16:00:00+00:00","publishedAt":"2021-01-04T14:50:31+00:00","seo":{"headline":"The US bans anonymous shell companies in defense act’s anti-money-laundering reform","description":"Congress included a provision to ban anonymous shell companies in the National Defense Authorization Act."},"social":{"headline":"The US has made its biggest anti-money-laundering changes in years","description":"Congress included a provision to ban anonymous shell companies in the National Defense Authorization Act.","image":null},"promo":{"headline":"The US has made its biggest anti-money-laundering changes in years"},"ledeMedia":{"__typename":"LedeMediaImageType","image":{"title":"","alt":"","originalHeight":3609,"originalWidth":5414,"thumbnails":{"social":{"url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all\u0026crop=0,11.908285568801,100,78.541284949349","mimeType":"imageJpg","normalizedRatio":1.91,"cropCoordinates":{"height":78.54128494934857,"width":100}},"horizontal":{"url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all\u0026crop=0.0046176579239017,0,99.990764684152,100","cropCoordinates":{"height":100,"width":99.9907646841522}},"square":{"url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all\u0026crop=16.669745105283,0,66.660509789435,100","cropCoordinates":{"height":100,"width":66.6605097894348}}},"id":"dngyOmltYWdlOjM3ODEz"}},"updatedAt":"2021-01-04T17:43:39+00:00","createdAt":"2021-01-04T14:50:31+00:00","hasAffiliateLinks":false,"additionalBylines":"","status":"publish","wordCount":2467,"package":null,"streams":{"nodes":[]},"liveStatus":{"startAt":null,"status":false,"endAt":null},"isPaywallEligible":true,"seoArticleBody":"If you\u0026rsquo;re a corrupt foreign official or drug trafficker, there\u0026rsquo;s a pretty easy way to protect your illicit cash: create an anonymous shell company.\nYou form a shell company \u0026mdash; meaning a business that exists only on paper, with no employees, no products it makes or sells, no revenue, nothing except maybe a bank account and some assets \u0026mdash; but you do it without disclosing your (the owner\u0026rsquo;s) real name, offering a convenient way to launder your money and evade law enforcement in the United States.\nExcept that might now be a lot harder to do in the US. A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the $741 billion defense bill, will effectively ban anonymous shell companies.\nThe NDAA passed with bipartisan support in Congress. Trump vetoed the package, but Congress voted overwhelmingly to override the president\u0026rsquo;s veto for the first time during Trump\u0026rsquo;s tenure.\nThat means that now, when someone opens a shell corporation, they\u0026rsquo;ll be required to provide the owner\u0026rsquo;s name and some basic identifying information. This simple step will give law enforcement and national security officials a powerful tool to crack down on corruption.\nTo help understand more about what this new provision does and why it\u0026rsquo;s so important, I called up Clark Gascoigne, a senior policy adviser at the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, a nongovernmental organization that advocates against corrupt financial practices by promoting transparency and anti-money-laundering policies.\n\u0026ldquo;This is the biggest anti-money-laundering update that we\u0026rsquo;ve had in 20 years,\u0026rdquo; he told me.\nOur conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.\nJen Kirby\nSo can you explain \u0026mdash; in really simple dummy terms \u0026mdash; what this law actually does?\nClark Gascoigne\nSo in dummy terms, it will require that, when you form a company in the United States, you simply have to disclose the identity of the true human being who owns the company.\u0026nbsp;\nIt asks for four readily available pieces of information: your name, address, date of birth, and an ID number, which could be a driver\u0026rsquo;s license or passport number. You disclose that to the Treasury Department.\nAnd that\u0026rsquo;s it. That\u0026rsquo;s what it does. When you form the company, you disclose that, and then if you sell it or the company\u0026rsquo;s ownership changes, you have to update that with the Treasury Department. That\u0026rsquo;s it.\nJen Kirby\nOkay, so, I\u0026rsquo;m thinking: If I wanted to start a business, of course I would have to give that information. But you\u0026rsquo;re telling me that\u0026rsquo;s not the case for all businesses?\nClark Gascoigne\nSo right now, in the United States \u0026mdash; in fact, in every state in the country \u0026mdash; you can set up an anonymous shell company. You can create a company without disclosing who the true owner is.\nSome states ask for more information than other states, but no state actually asks for the person who ultimately owns the company. It could be a manager that needs to be listed. Some states require a registered agent of the company. There are some states that don\u0026rsquo;t even require a human being to be listed on the forms anywhere.\u0026nbsp;\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a major problem for law enforcement and national security investigators as they\u0026rsquo;re pursuing criminal networks or national security threats. When they stumble across an anonymous shell company, they can\u0026rsquo;t figure out who is behind the company. They just hit this brick wall of corporate secrecy. And investigations often stall, and can, at times, be abandoned due to a lack of time and resources to be able to figure it out and continue to pursue the case.\nSo having this disclosure is going to be a critical reform that\u0026rsquo;ll allow investigators to actually follow the money trail.\nJen Kirby\nI\u0026rsquo;m thinking, \u0026ldquo;Why would I want to form an anonymous company?\u0026rdquo; Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s because I want to do something that is not exactly aboveboard. Can you explain who, exactly, wants to open an anonymous shell company?\nClark Gascoigne\nSo I would state, first off, that there are many reasons to have a shell company if you want to hold assets. It\u0026rsquo;s the anonymity that this is going after. You can still incorporate shell companies after this, you just have to disclose who\u0026rsquo;s behind it to the government.\u0026nbsp;\nThe reason that people oftentimes set these anonymous companies up is because they are looking at engaging in nefarious activity. There\u0026rsquo;s a pretty well-documented history of these anonymous companies being used to undermine various national security safeguards that we have, to hide bad actors and to launder proceeds for a wide variety of crimes.\nAnywhere from North Korea setting up anonymous shell companies to evade sanctions on their nuclear proliferation financing to human traffickers who set up anonymous shell companies to own the illicit massage businesses they are operating through in order to stymie law enforcement from figuring out who the criminal kingpins are behind those shell companies.\nJen Kirby\nGotcha. And my understanding is the US has been a bit of an outlier here until now in allowing this practice. Is that right?\nClark Gascoigne\nSo there\u0026rsquo;s a number of studies and research that\u0026rsquo;s gone into this. There was a study a few years ago by some academics at the University of Texas, Brigham Young University, and [Australia\u0026rsquo;s] Griffith University, where they sent emails to corporate-formation companies in hundreds of different countries around the world, intentionally setting off red flags for terror financing, corruption, or drug-trafficking.\u0026nbsp;\nThey actually found that the corporate formation agents in the United States were most likely to ignore the red flags and proceed with setting up the companies. There was one corporate-formation agent in Florida who responded saying, \u0026ldquo;This is clearly dirty money, it could possibly even be terror financing\u0026rdquo; \u0026mdash; and then followed that by saying, \u0026ldquo;I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t even consider getting involved for less than $5,000 a month.\u0026rdquo; So totally willing to do it for a price.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s other studies, too. The World Bank and the United Nations took a look at 150 of the largest corruption cases over the past few decades and found that more than three-quarters of them utilize anonymous companies to launder their illicit funds, and US entities were the most common of those companies in those cases.\u0026nbsp;\nJen Kirby\nIt seems the ease with which people could set up anonymous shell companies in the United States made some of the US\u0026rsquo;s foreign policy tools, particularly when it came to sanctions, somewhat ineffective. Is that a fair characterization?\nClark Gascoigne\nI\u0026nbsp;mean, without knowing who the beneficial owners of companies are, you can sanction any company you want, but a sanctioned individual can just set up another shell company anonymously. And that entity is not sanctioned, and they can just continue with business as usual. And this happens all the time. It\u0026rsquo;s like whack-a-mole.\nJen Kirby\nOkay, so then this new law sounds pretty good, in that it\u0026rsquo;s very bad for people who want to launder money.\nClark Gascoigne\nThis is the biggest anti-money-laundering update that we\u0026rsquo;ve had in 20 years. It\u0026rsquo;s a big deal, and it plugs what most people in the national security and law enforcement community view as the biggest loophole in our anti-money-laundering system.\nJen Kirby\nAre there are flaws in it?\nClark Gascoigne\nThis is, of course, a compromise, right? If I could have waved a magic wand, this is not the bill I would have written.\nBut it is a compromise with integrity. Most importantly, the definition of who is a \u0026ldquo;beneficial owner\u0026rdquo; in the bill is very strong and will truly identify the ultimate owners of the companies. That\u0026rsquo;s a big deal.\nNow, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t solve all of our money-laundering problems. One big exemption in this is that while it applies to corporations, limited liability companies, it does not apply to trusts or partnerships.\nPartnerships are generally considered lower risk, but trusts are a major issue, particularly because the vast majority of trusts in the United States don\u0026rsquo;t actually register with their legal contracts.\nSo you will still be able to set up a trust that could potentially be abused for money laundering after this. That\u0026rsquo;s something that we\u0026rsquo;re going to have to take a look at. There are studies that the Government Accountability Office and Treasury Department are going to have to do on the risks posed by trusts. The bill mandates those studies, and hopefully we\u0026rsquo;ll be able to address that down the road.\u0026nbsp;\nThere\u0026rsquo;s also some concerns around pooled investment vehicles, like hedge funds and private equity funds, that are operated or advised by a registered investment adviser. Law enforcement will be able to tie the fund to the investment adviser, and they\u0026rsquo;ll know the beneficial ownership information for the investment adviser, but they won\u0026rsquo;t know it for the fund itself.\nThere is a big concern around that because you\u0026rsquo;ve got trillions of dollars in money going into these private pooled investment funds that could potentially pose some risk for money laundering.\nJen Kirby\nWhen it comes to those pooled investments, just to make sure I\u0026rsquo;m understanding this: So if I have dirty money, and I am putting it into this fund with a lot of other investments, it basically muddies the waters. You know who\u0026rsquo;s managing the fund, but you have no way to pull out each investment, correct?\nClark Gascoigne\nCorrect, yeah.\nJen Kirby\nGotcha. Okay, so is this law retroactive? If you already have an anonymous shell company, must you now register? Or does it all begin once the law goes into effect?\nClark Gascoigne\nIt applies both to new companies formed after this law, as well as to existing companies.\u0026nbsp;\nThe Treasury Department will have one year to issue final rules spelling out exactly how this will be implemented, at which point new companies will immediately have to start reporting their ownership information. There will be a two-year grace period, though, for existing companies to come into compliance.\u0026nbsp;\nJen Kirby\nSo why now? You say this is the biggest update to the US\u0026rsquo;s anti-money-laundering regime in 20 years, but what was the impetus in Congress to actually agree on this right now?\nClark Gascoigne\nYou know, the last update to our anti-money-laundering laws was included in the US Patriot Act back after 9/11. There was a clear reaction to the terror attacks on 9/11 that led to the updates in our anti-money-laundering laws at that time.\nWe don\u0026rsquo;t have anything similar to that right now. However, there has been a growing understanding of the strategic threats that anonymous shell companies posed to our national security, as well as to legitimate commerce, which has led to an increased level of support from various interest groups, in addition to prior opponents reversing their opposition and endorsing reforms.\u0026nbsp;\nA decade ago, opposition came from interest groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, and secretaries of state particularly in Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming. Fast-forward a few years, and the secretary of state of Delaware endorsed the bill in 2018, and the US Chamber of Commerce just endorsed reform this summer.\u0026nbsp;\nI would say a big turning point in that started around 2016 when the Panama Papers were released. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a sort of pan-journalistic investigative collaborative effort for hundreds of news outlets around the world, published stories that dominated news headlines at the time, after they received a leak of millions of documents relating to individuals who\u0026rsquo;d been setting up anonymous shell companies to engage in all sorts of unscrupulous activity.\nIt also coincided with us, the FACT Coalition, reaching out to banking trade associations, because we thought, you know, banks have all these anti-money-laundering responsibilities, they need to know who\u0026rsquo;s opening accounts with them, wouldn\u0026rsquo;t it be better if the government collected this and then they could check a database? Wouldn\u0026rsquo;t that save them some money?\nIn August of 2016, the Clearing House Association, which has since merged and become the Bank Policy Institute, endorsed the bills, and that was the first major business trade group to endorse the bills. Pretty soon thereafter, the rest of the banking and credit union trade associations came on board. That was really a turning point, as it opened the door for additional business groups to also sign on and support.\nSo you just had a growing chorus of support among the business community, a reversal of opposition from the state secretaries of state, as well as a growing chorus of support in the national security community, which started, I\u0026rsquo;d say, after Russia invaded Crimea.\nFolks in the national security community started taking a closer look at sanctions, asking, \u0026ldquo;How do you enforce sanctions? Can we actually enforce them if people are setting up these anonymous shell companies? Are Russia and China using corruption as a form of foreign policy to undermine our national security?\u0026rdquo;\nThere was a growing awareness that they were. That snowballed to the point where you\u0026rsquo;ve got hundreds of national security scholars from Republican and Democratic administrations alike calling for transparency. It was a mix of a few things. But those are the most notable.\nJen Kirby\nWhat do you think will be the immediate impact of this legislation?\nClark Gascoigne\nIt\u0026rsquo;s going to take a couple years to implement, so it\u0026rsquo;s going to take a few years to start collecting information and making it available to investigators here at home.\u0026nbsp;\nBut on immediate impact, there\u0026rsquo;s a recent op-ed in the Toronto Star where anti-corruption advocates in Canada are pushing the Canadian government to address their problem there with anonymous shell companies.\nThe biggest sticking point in Canada to collecting the information on the true owners of companies was the fact that the US didn\u0026rsquo;t do it, and they didn\u0026rsquo;t want to get too far out ahead of the United States. Now that we\u0026rsquo;ve moved forward, folks in Canada are saying their government had been waiting for us, and they\u0026rsquo;re now likely to follow suit.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve also been in discussions with diplomats at the State Department for years who feel like they\u0026rsquo;ve had their hands tied behind their backs when they\u0026rsquo;re going overseas, talking to places like Singapore and Dubai about collecting this information and getting money laundering issues in their countries in check. Because those officials in Singapore and Dubai officials will just point the fingers back at us and say, \u0026ldquo;You guys are the worst at anonymous shell companies. How can you tell us that we need to figure out the situation when you don\u0026rsquo;t even do it yourself?\u0026rdquo;\nNow that we\u0026rsquo;ve passed this bill, that we\u0026rsquo;re moving forward and implementing it, it allows our diplomats to go around the world and to truly push some of the seedier financial hubs around the world to clean up their act. That has just as big of an impact, if not probably a larger impact, than us collecting this information here in the United States.","excludedFromHomepage":false,"packages":{"nodes":[]},"ledeMediaData":{"__typename":"LedeMediaImageType","caption":{"html":"Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) is seen on a monitor conducting the House Armed Services Committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act in the Longworth Building on July 1, 2020.","plaintext":"Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) is seen on a monitor conducting the House Armed Services Committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act in the Longworth Building on July 1, 2020."},"credit":{"plaintext":"Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images","html":"Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images"},"hideCredit":false,"image":{"thumbnails":{"horizontal":{"url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all\u0026crop=0.0046176579239017,0,99.990764684152,100"},"square":{"url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all\u0026crop=16.669745105283,0,66.660509789435,100"},"vertical":{"url":"https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22181534/1223811909.jpg?quality=90\u0026strip=all\u0026crop=23.335796084226,0,53.328407831548,100"}},"title":"","credit":{"plaintext":"Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images","html":"Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images"},"id":"dngyOmltYWdlOjM3ODEz"}}}},"errors":[]},{"operationName":"ArticleCategoryRecircContainerQuery","variables":{"categoryNodeId":"dngyOmNhdGVnb3J5OjgwMQ==","excludeLatest":0},"data":{"node":{"__typename":"CategoryResourceType","title":"Politics","path":"/politics","recirc":{"nodes":[{"__typename":"PostResourceType","__isFeedContentResourceInterface":"PostResourceType","id":"dngyOnBvc3Q6NDAxMzg5","wpId":401389,"globalId":"dngyOnBvc3Q6NDAxMzg5","chorusId":null,"chorusUuid":null,"resourceType":"post","dek":{"html":"Job cuts and frozen funding could inch one of the world’s rarest species even closer to extinction."},"permalink":"https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/401389/trump-doge-fish-wildife-service-black-footed-ferret","title":"This animal is on the edge of extinction. 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