The long-awaited rule is expected to require that real estate professionals such as title insurers report the identities of the beneficial owners of companies buying real estate in cash to the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Criminals have for decades anonymously hidden ill-gotten gains in real estate, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in March, adding that as much as $2.3 billion was laundered through U.S. real estate between 2015 and 2020.
That debate has slowed down FinCEN's work on the real estate reporting rule, one of the sources said.
PATCHWORKWhile banks have long been required to understand the source of customer funds and report suspicious transactions, no such rules exist nationwide for the real estate industry.
FinCEN implemented GTOs in 2016 after the New York Times revealed that nearly half of luxury real estate was bought by anonymous shell companies.
Persons:
Janet Yellen, Erica Hanichak, FinCEN, Jodi Vittori, Guo Wengui, Guo, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Howard, David Szakonyi, Luc Cohen, Chris Prentice, Amy Stevens, Michelle Price, Matthew Lewis
Organizations:
U.S . Treasury Department, FACT Coalition, Association, New York Times, Carnegie Endowment, International Peace, Nardello, Government, Office, George Washington University, New, Thomson
Locations:
New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Chinese, Jersey, Manhattan