\n\n“The biggest single provider of anonymous shell corporations in the world isn\u2019t Panama or the Cayman Islands. It\u2019s not the financial secrecy stalwart Switzerland, or a traditional offshore haven like the Bahamas.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s Delaware<\/a>. And the main reason is federalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to the US\u2019s federal structure, company formation remains overseen at the state level, rather than in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if you\u2019re a budding autocrat interested in a bit of easy money laundering, you don\u2019t turn to federal officials in Washington. Instead, you look to state officials in Dover, Cheyenne, or Reno to help construct anonymous shell companies to funnel and clean your illegitimate money.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Since there are no regulations in the US requiring that shell companies identify their true owners \u2014 known as \u201cbeneficial owners\u201d \u2013 American states have been under no compunction to try to peel back who may be behind the anonymous shell companies mushrooming across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These states and their constituents are <\/strong>raking in fees”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Nevada, which actively marketed itself as the \u201cDelaware of the West<\/a>\u201d in the early 1990s, directly linked company formation fees to funding teachers\u2019 salaries. And Wyoming, which invented<\/a> the limited liability company (LLC) in 1977, has been only too happy to capitalize on allowing shell companies to flourish in the state, generating millions of dollars for its general budget \u2014 yet another small state all too willing to participate in this \u201crace to the bottom<\/a>.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The criminal and corrupt of the world have taken notice. \u201cMerchant of Death\u201d Viktor Bout, the most prolific illicit arms dealer of the past few decades, used anonymous American shell companies<\/a> to smuggle missiles and rocket launchers to rebels in Colombia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who once joined<\/a> Indonesian dictator Suharto and Serbian genocidaire Slobodan Milo\u0161evi\u0107 among the ranks of the world\u2019s most corrupt leaders, relied<\/a> on a network of anonymous shell companies in Wyoming to plunder Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the ongoing impeachment saga in the US hinges in large part on anonymous Delaware shell companies, which Rudy Giuliani\u2019s Ukrainian-born <\/strong>bag-men used<\/a> to funnel foreign funds into American elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the world\u2019s warlords, criminals, and autocrats, there\u2019s no gift finer than an anonymous American shell company.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n