The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced today that it has issued a Geographic Targeting Order that requires U.S. title insurance companies to identify beneficial owners of companies that purchase high end real estate in Miami-Dade County and Manhattan in “all-cash” transactions. The move is a milestone in the fight to prevent the illicit proceeds of crime and corruption from entering the U.S. real estate market. The move follows a series of high profile exposés in 2014 and 2015 that highlighted the extent to which anonymous shell companies have been used to conceal the ownership of high end real estate in the United States.
Click here to read FinCEN’s statement.