ICAIE Supports the Corporate Transparency Act (ACT); Opposes Repeal of CTA via H.R. 425 that Weakens U.S. National Security and Further Empowers Bad Actors and Threat Networks
20 April 2026
The Honorable French Hill
Chairman
House Committee on Financial Services
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Maxine Waters
Ranking Member
House Committee on Financial Services
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Hill and Ranking Member Waters,
On behalf of the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE) which represents a diverse array of voices across national security communities including with the private sector and civil society, I write to express our utmost concerns related to the “Stop Big Brother Overreach Act” (H.R. 425). We respectfully urge the Committee not to proceed to vote this legislation forward.
Repealing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) will imperil U.S. national security and have grave ramifications for our law enforcement, intelligence, financial crime, and defense communities to counter illicit networks harming our homeland protection. It is a reality that today’s criminal actors and threat networks including from Mexico, Iran, China, Venezuela, and Russia, for example, hide behind the secrecy accorded by anonymous shell companies including to launder money their dirty monies and to finance greater chaos, insecurity, and instability.
Signed into law during President Trump’s first term, the CTA was intentionally crafted with bipartisan congressional support to balance transparency with feasibility, focusing on basic beneficial ownership disclosure that bad actors and threat networks have long used to exploit our system.
The Trump administration has issued an interim rule on the CTA that has not yet been finalized.
Congress should not get ahead of the Trump Administration on a policy decision in any way that undermines law enforcement’s efforts to protect public safety. U.S. law enforcement agencies were not consulted on this decision to bring the bill to markup. They should have a say in policies that HFSC advances that impact the ability to keep people safe.
We respectfully ask the Committee not to weaken this important anti-money laundering legislation and work alongside national security and law enforcement stakeholders before considering the repeal of the CTA or any other similar legislation that would impact our ability to keep American communities safe.
Repealing the Corporate Transparency Act would make it easier for bad actors and threat networks — including foreign adversaries and their criminal proxies, drug cartels, fraudsters, illicit tax dodgers, terrorists, WMD proliferators, money launderers, tariff and sanctions evaders, and human traffickers — to hide their nefarious and illicit activities from law enforcement and national security agencies to finance insecurity and to undermine the integrity and credibility of our financial system, international trading system, and the global economy.
Sincerely,
_______________________
David M. Luna
ICAIE, Executive Director
1455 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20004
