WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Congress should address a legislative gap that is used to launder money through shell companies in the United States, US Treasury Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin said on Tuesday.
"Congress could close this loophole by passing a simple, two-page law requiring the beneficial owner of a company to be identified whenever a US company is formed,’ Szubin stated in an op-ed for the Hill.
"Criminals have learned that American companies have an easier time obtaining bank accounts, and so they incorporate here in large numbers," Szubin underscored.
The issue of money laundering received great attention after an April report in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The report exposed the alleged involvement of the world's wealthy including a number of former and current leaders, in offshore schemes by publishing materials it claimed came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama firm selling offshore companies.
