Transparency Is Dead, Long Live Shell Companies
Trump’s Treasury suspends enforcement of business ownership disclosures, making life easier for money launderers and tax cheats.
In a stunning display of commitment to small business owners—especially those who specialize in laundering money—Donald Trump and his Treasury Department have decided that the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is just too much government overreach.
So, what do they do?
Suspend enforcement of penalties and fines, effectively gutting the law before it even has a chance to shine.
The CTA, passed in 2021 but in effect since January 2024, was supposed to crack down on anonymous shell companies used for money laundering, tax evasion, and all sorts of financial shenanigans. But Trump, the self-proclaimed champion of deregulation (and, let’s be honest, questionable financial dealings), has declared it a “disaster” for small businesses. Because, clearly, the real victims here are the mom-and-pop money-laundering operations that just want to funnel cash offshore in peace.
A Win for “Common Sense” (and Shell Companies)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the decision a “victory for common sense,” because what’s more sensible than making it easier for criminals, kleptocrats, and oligarchs to move their money anonymously? Of course, the Financial Accountability & Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition disagrees, calling this a massive gift to shell companies that thrive on secrecy.
Even before Trump’s rollback, the law was under attack.
In March 2024, a federal judge in Alabama ruled the CTA unconstitutional, arguing that Congress had overstepped its powers. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, known for his deep legal expertise (kidding—he once admitted he doesn’t even know what the three branches of government are), called the law an example of “intrusive big-government overreach.” Because, clearly, requiring companies to disclose their real owners is just too much tyranny to handle.
Framing the Debate: Small Business vs. Criminal Enterprise
Trump and his allies are selling this rollback as a win for small businesses—framing it as a regulatory nightmare that was crushing honest entrepreneurs.
But let’s be real: The CTA only applied to businesses with fewer than 20 full-time employees and under $5 million in revenue because those were the businesses most frequently used as anonymous shell corporations.
Meanwhile, larger corporations, the ones actually contributing to the economy, were exempt.
It’s a classic reframing strategy: take a law designed to stop crime and make it sound like an attack on hardworking Americans.
Who Wins? Who Loses?
• Winners: Money launderers, tax cheats, oligarchs, and, of course, Trumpworld insiders who never met a financial disclosure rule they didn’t hate.
• Losers: Law enforcement agencies trying to track dirty money, financial regulators hoping to prevent another economic scandal, and, well, anyone who actually cares about transparency in business.
Meanwhile, Ian Gary of the FACT Coalition didn’t hold back, calling this decision “pro-crime, pro-drug cartel, and pro-fentanyl.” And honestly, he has a point. The idea that this law was some unbearable burden on small businesses is laughable—most law-abiding companies had already complied without issue.
Make It Make Sense
Let’s get this straight: a law designed to curb money laundering was too “burdensome,” but hiring thousands of IRS agents to audit middle-class taxpayers? Totally fine.
The same people who cheered slashing IRS funding to help billionaires dodge taxes now want you to believe they’re fighting for the little guy by making it easier to hide financial wrongdoing.
So, congratulations to Trump and his deregulation crusaders.
With transparency out the window, we can all look forward to a booming shadow economy where the real small businesses—drug cartels, cybercriminals, and offshore tax evaders—continue to thrive.
That’s the point.
Zahead, Chaos Analyst.