Don’t expect rules around shell companies to tighten
By Tim Johnson, McClatchy News Service
Who made the United States into a refuge for secretive shell companies?
Dean Heller
Look toward Congress to find politicians who helped turn Nevada into a major home for shell companies, which can be used to evade taxes and hide illegal assets from around the world.
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., now a member of the Senate Finance Committee, was a strong advocate while Nevada’s secretary of state for a 2001 state law that broadened legal protections for shell companies, allowing owners to remain secret.
The change made incorporating a company easier than getting a library card and helped spur the registration of thousands of shell companies in Nevada.