Laboratories of Secrecy: Why Some U.S. States Have Sold Their Sovereignty to Criminals and Kleptocrats.

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Despite its reputation for the toughest anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement in the world, the United States remains the leading jurisdiction for the incorporation of anonymous shell companies used in grand corruption schemes. States like Delaware and Nevada have become notorious secrecy jurisdictions, frequently used by criminals and kleptocrats for money laundering. This thesis investigates why some U.S. states and not others have become the most secretive incorporation jurisdictions in the world. By employing the metrics from corporate secrecy scholars and NGOs and never-before-collected cross-sectional data on U.S. state incorporation fee revenue, this work reveals the correlates of U.S. state corporate secrecy. Moreover, through an interest group analysis of the corporate policymaking of two states (Delaware and Nevada) it posits a causal logic behind corporate secrecy in the most secretive U.S. states. It highlights how pro-secrecy interests in the United States have gained control over incorporation policymaking in Delaware and Nevada.

Type of resource	text
Date created	May 22, 2020

Author	Tuttle, Bryce
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Fisher Family Honors Program in Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law
Primary advisor	Diamond, Larry

Subject	shell companies
Subject	money laundering
Subject	corporate service provider
Subject	csp
Subject	aml
Subject	kleptocrats
Subject	kleptocracy
Subject	Delaware
Subject	Nevada
Subject	interest groups
Subject	corruption
Subject	federalism
Subject	state politics
Subject	secrecy jurisdiction
Subject	tax haven
Subject	financial secrecy
Subject	incorporation
Subject	race to the bottom
Subject	bar association
Subject	financial crime
Subject	offshore financial center
Subject	ofc
Subject	compliance
Subject	financial intelligence
Subject	state capture
Subject	bureaucratic capture
Subject	capture
Subject	Center on Development Democracy and Rule of Law
Subject	CDDRL
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/xw425vm9024

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Tuttle, Bryce and Diamond, Larry. (2020). Laboratories of Secrecy: Why Some U.S. States Have Sold Their Sovereignty to Criminals and Kleptocrats. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/xw425vm9024.

Stanford University, Fisher Family Honors Program in Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. (CDDRL)

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