Litigation partners Jessica Carey and Roberto Gonzalez and corporate associate Joshua Thompson published an article in Law360, “How Defense Bill Will Overhaul AML Policy In U.S.,” on January 7. Analyzing the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which significantly expands beneficial ownership disclosure requirements for companies registered to do business in the U.S., the authors note that the new provisions represent the most significant update to AML laws since the 2001 passage of the USA PATRIOT Act.
The authors discuss in detail AML-related provisions, including the creation of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Exchange; an expansion of the definition of a "money transmitting business”; the expansion of AML compliance requirements to include trading in antiquities; and increased FinCEN whistleblower rewards. Most notably, the 2021 NDAA's beneficial ownership reporting requirements would meaningfully relieve financial institutions of the burden to collect information, and instead place the burden on companies to make affirmative beneficial ownership disclosures to FinCEN unless they fit into certain exemptions.
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