In Vancouver, a new anti-money laundering law will impact Trump's company
New legislation puts British Columbia at the forefront of combating money-laundering practices in real estate—including the kinds of purchases made at the president's property.
Casey Michel
Apr 10, 2019, 8:00 am
Thanks to new legislation coming out of the Canadian province of British Columbia, set to become law next year, we might soon learn the identities of people using shell companies to buy units in one of President Donald Trump’s most lucrative — and controversial — foreign real estate projects. The legislation would create a registry of real names behind anonymous shell companies and trusts — both of which are commonly used in money-laundering, and both of which have turned Vancouver into a global haven for dirty money.
Since its inception in 2017, the $360 million, 616-foot-tall Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver has been dogged by controversy, especially as it pertains to worries about foreigners investing in the building in order to try to influence presidential decision-making. In 2018 U.S. counterintelligence officials began investigating the building, according to CNN, looking into the financing of the building’s construction and sales.
These concerns mirror similar questions surrounding Trump’s buildings in places like Panama and Azerbaijan. Those projects featured red-flag signs that indicate money laundering — specifically buyers using anonymous shell companies to hide their identities. The Trump Organization has since cut ties to the Panama and Azerbaijan holdings, but not so in Canada, where a licensing deal at the Vancouver property has netted the Trump Organization at least $5 million in the past two years alone.
The legislation, known as the Land Owner Transparency Act, is designed to curb the use of shell companies by making public a database of beneficial owners behind anonymous companies purchasing real estate across the province. The registry, which will be available to the public, is planned to come online in 2020.
https://thinkprogress.org/identity-shell-companies-trumps-vancouver-hotel-65a0fdf5f5f6/
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