Shopping for Anonymous Shell Companies: An Audit Study of Anonymity and Crime in the International Financial System

被引：43
作者：
Sharman, J. C. [1 ,2 ]
机构：
[1] Griffith Univ, Ctr Governance & Publ Policy, Brisbane, Qld 4111, Australia
[2] Griffith Univ, Griffith Asia Inst, Brisbane, Qld 4111, Australia
来源：
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES | 2010年 / 24卷 / 04期
关键词：
The last few years have seen an international campaign to ensure that the world's financial and banking systems are "transparent; meaning that every actor and transaction within the system can be traced to a discrete; identifiable individual. I present an audit study of compliance with the prohibitions on anonymous shell companies. In particular; I describe my attempts to found anonymous corporate vehicles without proof of identity and then to establish corporate bank accounts for these vehicles. (Transactions processed through the corporate account of such a "shell company" become effectively untraceable-and thus very useful for those looking to hide criminal profits; pay or receive bribes; finance terrorists; or escape tax obligations.) I solicited offers of anonymous corporate vehicles from 54 different corporate service providers in 22 different countries; and collated the responses to determine whether the existing legal and regulatory prohibitions on anonymous corporate vehicles actually work in practice. To foreshadow the results; it seems that small island offshore centers may have standards for corporate transparency and disclosure that are higher than major OECD economies like the United States and the United Kingdom;
D O I：
10.1257/jep.24.4.127
中图分类号：
F [经济];
学科分类号：
02 ;
摘要：
[No abstract available]
引用
收藏
页码：127 / 140
页数：14
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