Delaware seeks compromise in anti-money laundering fight
In July, federal authorities implicated eight Delaware limited liability corporations in a scheme to steal over $1 billion from the people of Malaysia. In August, they fined a Chilean airline for bribing union bosses with $1.15 million funneled through a Delaware LLC.
Cases abound of tax dodgers, embezzlers, drug dealers and arms traffickers using anonymous companies based in Delaware and other U.S. states to hide and funnel money.
Delaware officials say a new bill they are pushing in Congress would help police root out secretive money launderers by requiring every corporate entity in the U.S. to supply the name of a company official to the IRS. Limited liability corporations can be created in nearly every state without disclosing who owns them.
But critics say the legislation, introduced by U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, merely gives the appearance of progress. Transparency advocates and some in law enforcement say it would allow criminals and tax evaders to retain corporate anonymity because the bill does not explicitly require an actual owner of a company to be listed.
Read more: http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2016/09/16/delaware-seeks-compromise-anti-money-laundering-fight/90412966/