The New York Times reports:

The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to scale back scrutiny of the shadowy shell companies that criminals use to launder money and traffic drugs.

The initiative follows a yearslong campaign by lobbying groups, which contended that new financial reporting requirements were too onerous for businesses.

The Treasury Department said late on Tuesday that it was permanently halting the collection of data about the ownership of private American companies that was required as part of the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act. The law, which passed with bipartisan support, was intended to prevent the illicit use of shell companies by giving law enforcement agencies access to information about their ownership structures.

“Treasury is eliminating a burdensome reporting requirement for millions of law-abiding business owners without compromising our national security,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on social media.

The law applied to a broad swath of private American businesses; however, there has been particular concern in the United States about shell companies. These are legal entities that do not usually have physical operations or assets and can be used for holding — and often hiding — financial assets in anonymous accounts. [Continue reading…]