Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

FinCen Expands Title Insurance Program on Shell Companies

August 23, 2017 by Marion Maneker

In an effort to prevent high-end real estate purchased through LLCs or other shell companies from becoming a money-laundering channel, FinCen created a pilot program to use title insurance companies to reveal beneficial ownership. That program has now been expanded to include Hawaii and six other cities:

In January 2016, FinCEN issued GTOs to require U.S. title insurance companies to report beneficial ownership information on legal entities, including shell companies, used to purchase certain luxury residential real estate in Manhattan and Miami—specifically, luxury residential property purchased by a shell company without a bank loan and made at least in part using a cashier’s check or similar instrument.  In July 2016 and February 2017, FinCEN reissued the original GTOs and extended coverage to all boroughs of New York City, two additional counties in the Miami metropolitan area, five counties in California (including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego), and the Texas county that includes San Antonio.

These rules apply to real estate transactions, not art. And there is very little evidence that art is being used for money laundering. Nonetheless, tighter controls on real estate transactions may have the effect of diverting more surplus cash into tangible assets like art and collectibles.

FinCen Targets Shell Companies Purchasing Luxury Properties in Seven Major Cities

More from Art Market Monitor

  • India's Outsider ArtIndia's Outsider Art
  • Saltz Says Too Much Space Made Pace Show Franco PicsSaltz Says Too Much Space Made Pace Show Franco Pics
  • Will the Art Market Boom Collapse Into a Dense Black Hole of Extreme Value for a Few Artists or Explode Outward into the ‘Vast Hinterland’ of Good Art? Will the Art Market Boom Collapse Into a Dense Black Hole of Extreme Value for a Few Artists or Explode Outward into the ‘Vast Hinterland’ of Good Art?
  • A Chinese Bulk Buyer at Sotheby'sA Chinese Bulk Buyer at Sotheby's
  • LA's AppealLA's Appeal
  • Carlos Cruz-Diez Gets Spotlight at PhillipsCarlos Cruz-Diez Gets Spotlight at Phillips

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • After Pandemic’s Rapid Change, Sotheby’s Has 8 Predictions for 2021
  • For 2020, Phillips Brought in Total of $760.4 million, Down 16 Percent from 2019; Asia Sales Up 24 Percent
  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • A Season of Resilience: Fall 2020 Hong Kong Auction Analysis
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Soulages First Owned by Senegalese Poet-Politician Léopold Sédar Senghor Sells in France
  • A Season of Improvisation: Fall 2020 New York Modern and Contemporary Art Auction Analysis
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor