Enhancing Real Estate Transparency to Combat Money Laundering

The Biden administration is implementing regulations to enhance transparency in residential real estate transactions to combat money laundering. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed a rule requiring real estate professionals to report information about non-financed sales of residential real estate to legal entities, trusts, and shell companies. This initiative aims to reduce the anonymity of illicit actors in the real estate sector and is part of a broader effort to safeguard economic and national security by diminishing the ability of corrupt actors to launder ill-gotten proceeds through real estate purchases. The U.S. is also launching a new beneficial ownership registry for small businesses, which is expected to contain personal information on the owners of at least 32 million U.S. businesses.