Proposed Rule Closing Decades-Old Anti-Money Laundering Loophole Marks Major Milestone in the Fight Against Global Corruption
The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition today welcomed the Treasury Department’s release of much-needed draft reforms closing loopholes that have, for decades, allowed international and domestic bad actors to launder money through U.S. real estate markets. The draft rule proposed today would, for the first time, require certain U.S. real estate professionals to conduct basic checks on their customers to prevent money laundering in the residential real estate sector.
“This draft rule sends a clear message that the U.S. plans to close off options for criminals looking to hide their ill-gotten gains in our real estate markets,” said Ian Gary, executive director of the 100-plus member FACT Coalition. “It is imperative that Treasury now finalize strong, permanent rules to prevent the misuse of U.S. residential and commercial real estate by foreign and domestic criminals, sanctioned Russian oligarchs, drug traffickers, sponsors of international terrorism, and other bad actors.”
While FACT’s analysis is ongoing, the draft rule’s release marks a turning point in the ongoing implementation of the Biden Administration’s 2021 Strategy on Countering Corruption, which identifies certain key anti-money laundering (AML) reforms as core national security objectives. FACT and its allies have submitted…
