The Trump administration just destroyed the FinCEN shell company database — not suspended it, destroyed it — and Congress needs to act now to restore it and hold those responsible accountable. The Corporate Transparency Act passed with bipartisan support, even co-sponsored by Marco Rubio, who called it the "most significant anti-corruption and money laundering law in decades." The administration doesn't get to simply refuse to implement a law.
This registry existed because between 1999 and 2017, banks flagged over $2 trillion in potentially laundered money flowing through anonymous shell companies from Russia, China, Iran, and Syria. Gutting it doesn't just invite financial crime — it opens the door wider for drug traffickers and foreign criminals who rely on exactly this kind of anonymity to move money into the U.S. More laundered money means more drugs on American streets. That's not abstract; that's the direct consequence of what the Treasury Department just did.
Demand the registry be restored, the deleted data recovered to the extent possible, and that the administration be compelled to enforce the Corporate Transparency Act as written. If the executive branch won't follow the law, Congress must use every tool available to force compliance.
First sent on August 17 by Karla
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