US: ‘Blatantly Pro-Corruption’: Trump Guts Anti-Money Laundering Rule

The Trump administration has gutted a key anti-corruption tool meant to combat illicit finance through opaque shell companies. The rollback protects donors who use shell companies to conceal their identities or make illegal political contributions. Last Friday, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)—a Treasury Department office—issued an interim final rule scaling back the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), a 2021 law designed to force companies to report the people behind them, also known as their “beneficial owners,” to the government. Under the rollback, only foreign companies doing business in the U.S. will have to comply, while domestic companies will get a free pass.

Passed on a bipartisan basis as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, the CTA was an attempt to pierce the veil of secrecy that surrounds shell companies such as LLCs that exist only on paper in order to obscure the flow of funds. The law took effect last year, forcing companies to report their owners’ personal information, but a federal court in Texas issued a nationwide injunction in December that halted its enforcement and compliance dates. Now, the Trump administration finished the job by effectively gutting it. The Treasury Department claims that the move was necessary to protect small businesses from having to comply with burdensome reporting requirements.

Without ownership data, law enforcement can’t spot if an unknown LLC dropping millions into a super PAC is legit or a straw donor masking banned contributors like foreign firms or government contractors.

20 August 2024

EU: ECJ VAT hearings transferred to General Court

1st October 2024: Preliminary hearings of certain VAT, excise and customs cases redirected to General Court The EU Parliament and Council of the EU have agreed to that VAT cases may initially be heard

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18 October 2024

EU: Italy, Germany, Netherlands short-listed for top job running EU dirty money watchdog

Italy, Germany and the Netherlands are on the short list for an EU top job running the bloc’s new anti-money laundering body, according to multiple officials. Italy’s Bruna Szego, Germany’s Marcus

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24 May 2024

SWITZERLAND: Switzerland strengthens anti-money laundering framework

New measures to tackle money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing are likely to come into effect in early 2026. The Swiss Federal Council has adopted a series of measures to be submitted

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14 May 2024

IRELAND: Central Bank of Ireland Expands Anti-Money Laundering Regime

Cryptocurrency companies in the Republic of Ireland will have to comply with anti-money laundering rules, the country’s central bank has warned. Cryptocurrency traders in Ireland will no longer be

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