The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would require the handlers of all-cash residential real estate transactions in all U.S. cities and counties to disclose the beneficial owners.
All-cash residential real estate transactions have long been eyed as easy ways for criminals and oligarchs to launder money and access the U.S. financial system. Residential real estate transactions that require borrowing are less attractive to bad actors because the financial institutions handling them must adhere to anti-money laundering (AML) standards set by the Bank Secrecy Act. Those standards include having an AML program in place and reporting suspicious transactions to FinCEN.
