Soon, kleptocrats and super-wealthy might not be able to buy their mansion anonymously, at least in the Big Apple. In September, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that will limit limited liability companies from purchasing properties.
The kleptocrats, oligarchs, and celebrities can hide their identities by purchasing a home through a limited liability company, also known as a shell company. At times, an LLC that owns an LLC that owns an LLC can buy the property. Figuring out the identity of the buyer is impossible.
While celebrities might use LLCs to buy properties for privacy, others use them to launder money and hide assets.
According to a New York Times report, LLCs purchased 80 percent of units sold in the Time Warner Center in 2014.
New York wants every buyer’s name to be available through the Freedom of Information Law, which is still more privacy than the majority of regular homebuyers get. Their information is widely available in their county property appraiser’s database.
I am a Middle Class; I Don’t Care about Luxury Real Estate.
Kleptocrats earn their millions or billions by looting their country. If you are a citizen in a country where the money is exporting to, sooner than later that corruption will crash your country’s economy.
If the money is importing into your country, sooner than later, the foreign investment surplus will exacerbate gentrification and, probably, inflation.
