- Treasury suspends penalties for 32M+ businesses skipping ownership reporting
- Rule originally aimed to curb $300B/year in illicit financial flows
- Over 100,000 entities filed data before enforcement pause
- Legal challenges from 27 states question database constitutionality
The Biden administration's signature anti-corruption initiative faces collapse as Treasury officials abandon enforcement of the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) registry. This abrupt policy reversal follows three federal court rulings declaring the Corporate Transparency Act exceeds congressional authority...
Small business owners like Mia Rodriguez, who runs a Texas-based trucking company, describe the reporting requirements as invasive.Why should I risk identity theft to list my 78-year-old mother as partial owner?she asks. Treasury's own estimates suggest compliance costs ballooned to $217 per business - 155% higher than initial projections...
Law enforcement groups warn this creates dangerous blind spots. We used BOI data to freeze $28M in Russian oligarch assets last quarter,says FBI Financial Crimes Unit lead Andrew Choi. Without centralized reporting, shell company investigations become needle-in-haystack searches....
Industry analysts note 14 states now developing alternate transparency systems. Delaware's voluntary corporate registry pilot saw 42% adoption in Q1 2024, suggesting market-driven solutions might fill the federal void...
