A federal law designed to pull back the curtain on anonymous shell companies is in jeopardy — and the story of how it got there runs through a collapse of the bipartisan coalition that built it.
The Corporate Transparency Act once drew support from both parties, with lawmakers agreeing that requiring businesses to disclose their true owners was a straightforward way to crack down on money laundering and financial fraud. That consensus didn’t hold. The Trump administration is now pushing to shelve the law, according to NPR, which reported on the shift Thursday, May 29, 2026.
Shell companies have long drawn scrutiny from law enforcement and financial regulators because they can obscure who actually controls a business, making them attractive vehicles for hiding illicit money. The act was built specifically to address that gap by creating a national ownership registry. Critics of the rollback say gutting the law hands that cover back to bad actors.
What the Trump administration’s argument is for pulling back — and whether Congress will resist — hasn’t been fully spelled out in the reporting available. NPR didn’t detail a specific replacement mechanism or a congressional vote scheduled to resolve the standoff.
Originally reported by NPR. Read the original report.
