The End of the Anonymous Shell Company in the United States

Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, the top online resource for discourse on corporate governance, recently published an article authored by Litigation partner Robert Appleton entitled “The End of the Anonymous Shell Company in the United States.” The article addresses the newly enacted Corporate Transparency Act ("CTA'), passed by Congress and that went into law on January 1, 2021 over President Trump’s veto. The CTA is one of the most significant pieces of legislation in recent memory addressing anti-money laundering concerns surrounding the anonymity of corporate ownership and control of smaller private companies.  The CTA requires, subject to certain exceptions, disclosure of the beneficial ownership of these entities to FinCEN, which is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.