The Financial Times | June 18 2017:
Fears of Russian influence revive drive to track corporations’ true owners.
US lawmakers are launching a fresh effort to outlaw “shell companies” amid fears that Russia is exploiting such opaque corporate vehicles to spread its influence.
Charles Grassley, Senate judiciary committee chairman, and Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic colleague, are early next week set to introduce legislation that would require all US states to track the true owners of corporations.
Though similar proposals failed last year, growing evidence of Moscow’s use of corporate vehicles that obscure their owners’ identity has revived prospects for action.
“It’s definitely got people’s attention,” said Greg Baer, president of the industry group The Clearing House and a former head of regulatory policy for JPMorgan Chase. “I’m more optimistic than at any point in the past. There does seem to be a lot more energy around this.”
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