The Harmon Firm LLC - FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ARE DRAFTED INTO THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISTS©

11. The concept of “beneficial ownership” runs through several of the Act’s provisions. 31 U.S.C § 5318A (B)(1)(B)(Records of Offshore Transactions); 31 U.S.C § 5318A(b)(2) (Information Relating to Beneficial Ownership); 31 U.S.C § 5318A(i)(I)(3)(Minimum Standards for Private Banking Accounts); 31 U.S.C § 5318(i)(4)(B)(Private Banking Account Defined); 31 U.S.C § 5318(h)(3)(Concentration Accounts); The Act, § 356(c)(4)(Treasury Report on Investment Companies & Beneficial Ownership of Personal Holding Companies). Its definition is left to future regulatory action by Treasury.

Such regulations shall address issues related to an individual's authority to fund, direct, or manage the account (including, without limitation, the power to direct payments into or out of the account), and an individual's material interest in the income or corpus of the account, and shall ensure that the identification of individuals under this section does not extend to any individual whose beneficial interest in the income or corpus of the account is immaterial. 31 U.S.C § 5318A(e)(3). Beneficial ownership is crucial to deter and detect offshore money laundering. These regulations will attempt to deal with the many screens behind which launderers operate, i.e., trusts, attorneys, nominees, front businesses and shell banks.

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