The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has granted state, local and tribal entities appropriate access to corporate ownership information following a national effort led by Attorney General Gentner Drummond.
Drummond and 41 other attorneys general asked the U.S. Department of Treasury bureau last February to adjust its proposed requirements for a national database established in the Corporate Transparency Act. The proposed requirements included burdensome regulations for non-federal entities to access information. Drummond said information in the database will be critical to fighting crime and terrorism.
“I am pleased FinCEN’s Final Rule takes into account the concerns expressed by law enforcement representatives and streamlines access to the database for state, local and tribal enforcers,” Drummond said. “We can now use the database as Congress intended to efficiently access important corporate ownership data to protect the public.”
He said the database will help investigators hold accountable bad actors, from corrupt officials to organized criminals.
The Corporate Transparency Act, passed in 2021, requires certain companies to disclose their actual, or “beneficial,” owners to FinCEN. That information is then included in the national database, which began functioning Jan. 1.
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