Sec. 5101. Findings on transparency and disclosure; sense of Congress
603 words·~3 min read·
/bill/117/s/1260/es/section-5101A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: More than 2,000,000 corporations, limited liability companies, and other similar entities are formed under the laws of the States each year and some of those 2,000,000 entities are formed by persons outside of the United States, including by persons in the People’s Republic of China. Most or all States do not require information about the beneficial owners of the corporations, limited liability companies, or other similar entities formed under the laws of the State.
Malign actors seek to conceal their ownership of corporations, limited liability companies, or other similar entities in the United States to facilitate illicit activity, including money laundering, the financing of terrorism, proliferation financing, serious tax fraud, human and drug trafficking, counterfeiting, piracy, securities fraud, financial fraud, economic espionage, theft of intellectual property, and acts of foreign corruption, which harm the national security interests of the United States and allies of the United States.
National security, intelligence, and law enforcement investigations have consistently been impeded by an inability to reliably and promptly obtain information identifying the persons that ultimately own corporations, limited liability companies, or other similar entities suspected of engaging in illicit activity, as documented in reports and testimony by officials from the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Treasury, the Government Accountability Office, and other agencies.
In the National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and Other Illicit Financing, issued in 2020, the Department of the Treasury found the following: Misuse of legal entities to hide a criminal beneficial owner or illegal source of funds continues to be a common, if not the dominant, feature of illicit finance schemes, especially those involving money laundering, predicate offences, tax evasion, and proliferation financing. . Federal legislation, including the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (division F of Public Law 116–283 ) and the Corporate Transparency Act (title LXIV of division F of Public Law 116–283 ), combating the crime of money laundering and providing for the collection of beneficial ownership information by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of the Treasury (referred to in this section as FinCEN ) with respect to corporations, limited liability companies, or other similar entities formed under the laws of the States has recently been enacted to— set a clear Federal standard for incorporation practices; better enable critical national security, intelligence, and law enforcement efforts to identify and counter money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and other illicit activity; and bring the United States into compliance with international standards with respect to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.
Providing beneficial ownership information to FinCEN is especially important in cases in which foreign firms, including those in the People’s Republic of China or subject to the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China, seek to acquire United States firms and the valuable intellectual property of those firms in a manner that poses a threat to the national security of the United States. It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of the Treasury should implement the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (division F of Public Law 116–283 ), including the Corporate Transparency Act (title LXIV of division F of Public Law 116–283 ), within the timelines required under those Acts, including the elements of those Acts designed to enhance the ability of financial services providers to adopt and implement anti-money laundering best practices, mitigate burdens on small businesses, ensure the security of beneficial ownership information as provided for by those Acts, and address specific concerns relating to abuses of anonymous shell companies by Chinese entities and the Government of the People's Republic of China.
Connectionstraces to 1
Traces to 1 document
Citation graph
cites case law
Sec. 5101
Findings on transparency and disclosure; sense of Congress
Cites 1Cited by 0 across 0 sources