"Panama Papers" Release Highlights Need for US Shell Company Legislation

More than 11 million leaked documents from a major Panama-based "off-shore" law firm reveal how the global financial system enables corruption and tax evasion. The "Panama Papers" highlight the role that anonymously formed companies play in facilitating money laundering and crime. The leak is the largest known to date and involves heads of state and other prominent officials.

"The Panama Papers is the biggest leak we've ever seen on how global corruption and tax evasion is facilitated," noted Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA. "This leak is a blueprint for how the most vulnerable people in the world are harmed by financial secrecy."

On February 3rd, Republicans and Democrats in Congress introduced the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (HR 4450, S 2489) to collect ownership records for companies incorporated in the US and give law enforcement access to that information. The legislation would make it more difficult to set up anonymous companies in the United States.

"Congress should pass legislation to make it more difficult to set up anonymous companies here in the US," noted LeCompte. "These companies fuel corruption, poverty, human trafficking and armed conflict."

Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 US organizations and 550 faith communities working with 50 Jubilee global partners. Jubilee USA builds an economy that serves, protects and promotes the participation of the most vulnerable. Jubilee USA has won critical global financial reforms and more than $130 billion in debt relief to benefit the world's poorest people. http://www.jubileeusa.org