Thread by @ICIJorg

How did companies linked to foreign billionaires, like Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska & Igor Makarov, find a home in the US?

In our latest investigation with @washingtonpost, we take a look at a little-known player in the financial secrecy business. 🧵 bit.ly/3ubd230

US states like Wyoming, Delaware, and Nevada have become havens for hidden wealth largely through LLCs, business structures that offer owners privacy, legal benefits and tax breaks.

Representing every LLC is a registered agent. bit.ly/3ubd230

Registered agents provide perfunctory corporate services and often serve as the only point of contact for companies with anonymous owners.

Operating with no required training and little oversight, some agents have massive, globe-spanning client lists. bit.ly/3ubd230

In Wyoming, the number of LLCs has soared fiftyfold in the past decade.

This building in Sheridan, Wyoming, is the only publicly known address for hundreds of LLCs — including companies accused of international money laundering and fraud. bit.ly/3ubd230

Foreign court records show that companies established in Wyoming have been listed in overseas lawsuits alleging medical fraud in Russia, tax dodging in Hungary and bank theft in Zimbabwe, ICIJ and @washingtonpost found. bit.ly/3ubd230

Russian tycoon Igor Makarov secretly held real estate and a private jet via a Wyoming LLC and trust, #PandoraPapers show.

Another Wyoming LLC is linked to Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, accused of orchestrating one of the biggest ever bank heists. bit.ly/3ubd230

Registered agents know little or nothing about the function or people behind companies they are paid to front. And they can be as elusive as the owners they represent.

ICIJ’s @willfitzgibbon talked to one who said she’s represented 1,200 companies. bit.ly/3ubd230

Stung by reports of anonymous companies financing arms dealers, human traffickers and other criminals, some states have tightened requirements for registered agents over the years.

But oversight and regulation has been inconsistent. bit.ly/3ubd230

The Enablers Act, a bill introduced to Congress in the aftermath of the #PandoraPapers, would require registered agents to not only identify company owners but also look for and report red flags. bit.ly/3ubd230

This investigation is the latest in ICIJ and @washingtonpost’s #PandoraPapers series on tax haven USA. 🇺🇸

🔴 Read about South Dakota’s booming trust industry here: bit.ly/2YsHW9X

🔴 And learn more about financial secrecy in Wyoming here: bit.ly/3e7mLPd

Want to see more investigative reporting on how the world’s most rich and powerful use tax havens?

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🇷🇺 Check out the #RussiaArchive: bit.ly/3x7MykS