WASHINGTON — Bipartisan legislation to limit the influence of so-called shell corporations in the U.S. could get a boost as Congress probes the ways that Russia influenced last year’s election.
The bill, intended to crack down on international and corporate corruption, stalled in the last Congress. But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is renewing his push for restrictions on companies or countries that hide assets from tax authorities and law enforcement as he and other lawmakers look into Russian campaign meddling. He says one of the ways Russia is becoming increasingly entwined in U.S. affairs is through opaque U.S. incorporation laws.
For the United States to enable theft and corruption “is a potential black eye for us as a country that depends on its example to significant degree,” Whitehouse said in an interview.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is also sponsoring the bill, increasing its chances of moving through that committee. Grassley and Whitehouse are two of four senators on the Judiciary panel who are leading an investigation into the Russian meddling.