Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I am, along with Senator Rubio, introducing the Corporate Transparency Act of 2017. This bill will help us end the abuse of anonymous shell companies by criminals who use these entities to launder money, finance terrorism, promote sex trafficking, and evade taxes. Each year criminals use anonymous shell companies to carry out their elicit schemes. Viktor Bout, the so-called ``merchant of death,'' utilized a vast network of shell corporations, several of which were in the United States, including one suspected of having provided weapons to the Taliban. Another anonymous U.S. company owned a large share of a Manhattan skyscraper and used its anonymity to facilitate $4.5 million in payments to an Iranian bank that was designated by OFAC as a key financier to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missiles program. Anonymous shell companies have been used to rip off taxpayers as well. In 2010, Michel Huarte was sentenced to 22 years in prison after using a network of 29 shell companies in several States to defraud Medicare, using the entities to submit claims of more than $50 million. Last year, the release of documents known as the Panama Papers leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca highlighted the use of American shell companies to carry out potential crimes. Shell company abuse is not just in occurring in offshore tax havens, but right here in the United States, and this bill seeks to put a stop to that.…”