Attorney General Ford Challenges Trump Administration’s Effort to Gut Corporate Transparency Act and Make Financial Crimes Easier

Carson City, NV - Attorney General Aaron D. Ford has joined a coalition of 20 states and Washington D.C. in a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from gutting a law that helps police and prosecutors catch money launderers, fraudsters, and tax cheats.

The law, the Corporate Transparency Act, requires businesses to tell the federal government who actually owns and controls them. That matters because criminals often hide their money in shell companies - businesses that exist on paper but don't do much of anything - so their names never show up. Now the United States Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, has exempted 99.9% of businesses from the law, making it nearly useless.

"The Trump administration is making it easier for fraudsters, money launderers and tax cheats to conceal their crimes," said Attorney General Ford. "Weakening these safeguards allows criminals to hide behind anonymous shell companies, undermining law enforcement's ability to hold them accountable and putting Nevadans at risk. My office will not stand by while these critical protections are dismantled."

Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act with bipartisan support in 2021. It created a Treasury database of business owners that law enforcement can use to trace dirty money, track down stolen assets, and uncover bribes and political payoffs.

In August 2026, the Trump administration issued a rule exempting nearly every business from reporting. Then FinCEN went further, announcing it would delete the ownership information already in the database, records that likely include evidence of unsolved crimes. The states argue that would break multiple federal laws.

The lawsuit says FinCEN:

• Violated the Corporate Transparency Act and Administrative Procedure Act
• Skipped required legal steps before changing the rule
• Acted arbitrarily and without a reasonable explanation
• Failed to properly consult the Secretary of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney General before exempting nearly all businesses

If the states win, the court would throw out FinCEN's rule and require the agency to keep collecting and maintaining the ownership database for law enforcement.

The case, State of Oregon v. Bessent, is being filed today in U.S. District Court in Eugene.

In filing the lawsuit, Attorney General Ford joins the lead attorneys general of Oregon and Illinois, as well as the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, Washington, DC and Wisconsin.

###