Corporate Pushback Mires US Anti-Money Laundering Disclosures

Businesses worried about the cost of a federal requirement to report their owners’ identities see one lawsuit as a possible blueprint to escape enforcement—even as officials insist those concerns are misplaced.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in an interview that ongoing legal challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act betray “a fundamental misunderstanding of the national security problem” targeted by the law—namely, money laundering and tax evasion done through anonymous shell companies. Business associations across the country, however, say they’re filing suit because their members are being caught in the crossfire.

The CTA requires about 32.6 million business ...