U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had asked states for years to close what he considers a gaping hole in America’s defenses: identifying the “beneficial owners” of newly formed companies.
Levin regularly fires off statistics and telling details about the problem: 2 million corporations or limited liability companies formed in the United States annually. State incorporation laws so weak a person must disclose more information to get a driver’s license than to start a business.
