Baker McKenzie fought proposals to strengthen financial oversight and tax laws in its lobbying for large banks and technology companies, according to Pandora Papers reporting by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its media papers.
How America Became the Money
Laundering Capital of the World
The U.S. is the venue of choice for cartels and kleptocrats. Now lawmakers want to use an agency called FinCEN to do something about it.
Jorge VINUEZA/AFP/Getty Images
May 7, 2021
In March, federal agents raided the Beverly Hills premises of a company called U.S. Private Vaults. According to a subsequent grand jury indictment, U.S. Private Vaults was a money laundering operation where drug dealers and others could anonymously stash fentanyl, guns, and “huge stacks of $100 bills” in safe deposit boxes. U.S. Private Vaults didn’t really bother to hide its business, boasting in ads, “We don’t even want to know your name.” It also shared its strip mall storefront with Gold Business, which allegedly specialized in laundering drug money via purchases of gold.
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The Corporate Transparency Act, which New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney pushed, requires shell companies to reveal true ownership of real estate. (Photo illustration, Getty; iStock)
A new law that targets wealthy buyers who scoop up high-priced homes and commercial properties through anonymous shell companies could help stop the flow of illicit cash into real estate. But some money laundering experts say the measure has loopholes that could be easily exploited.
The Corporate Transparency Act requires true owners of shell companies to identify themselves to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Those who do not comply face criminal penalties. The measure, tucked into the massive annual defense spending bill that President Donald Trump vetoed, became law Jan. 1, when Congress overrode his veto.