used a shell company formed in New York to purchase a 36-story building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and forwarded millions of dollars in rent each year to Iran until authorities in the United States learned of the transfers and seized the building. (6) Law enforcement efforts to investigate corporations and limited liability companies suspected of wrongdoing have been impeded by the lack of available beneficial ownership information, as documented in reports and testimony by officials from the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service, the Government Accountability Office, and others. (7) In December 2016, a leading international anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing organization, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (in this section referred to as FATF ), of which the United States is a member, issued a report that criticized the United States for failing to comply with a FATF standard on the need to collect beneficial ownership information. The report called the United States framework in this area seriously deficient and urged the United States to correct this deficiency. (8) In response to the FATF report and to strengthen measures to protect homeland security, Federal officials have repeatedly urged the States to improve their formation practices by obtaining beneficial ownership information for the corporations and limited liability companies formed under the laws of such States. But the States continue to form millions of corporations with hidden owners. (9) Many States have established automated procedures that allow a person to form a new corporation or limited liability company within the State within 24 hours of filing an online application, without any prior review of the application by a State official. (10) Dozens of Internet websites highlight the anonymity of beneficial owners allowed under the formation practices of some States, point to those