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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Lydia Andrews, Deputy Director

lydia@jubileeusa.org / (o) (202) 783-3566 x109 / (m) (847) 772-2305

Over 20 State Attorneys General Call for Shell Company Transparency

WASHINGTON

24 State Attorneys General wrote to Congress supporting action to disclose the actual owner of a shell company to law enforcement. "Anonymous" shell companies can be used to hide the identity of the owner.

"Shell companies are used by corrupt government officials to steal money from their people and hide the identities of people involved in the modern day human slave trade," stated Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte who serves on United Nations financial expert groups.

The Attorneys General letter raises concerns of how shell companies are sometimes used. "The use of anonymous shell companies by those engaged in human trafficking, drug dealing, and other crimes, allows criminals to launder and spend money attained through criminal activity without accountability," wrote the Attorneys General.

"Shell companies provide vehicles for tax evasion and corruption that contribute to an annual trillion dollar loss to developing world," said LeCompte.

Read the Attorneys General Letter here.

Jubilee USA Network is an interfaith, non-profit alliance of religious, development and advocacy organizations. We are 75 U.S. institutions and more than 750 faith groups working across the United States and around the globe. We address the structural causes of poverty and inequality in our communities and countries around the world.

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