To the Editor:

Re “Property Sales Get U.S. Scrutiny” (front page, Jan. 14):

The Treasury Department’s plan to scrutinize the secret companies buying real estate in New York and Miami is a welcome first step toward cleaning up parts of the real estate market, but it falls far short of what’s truly needed to combat the United States financial system’s role as a major money-laundering haven.

Anonymous shell companies are one of the primary vehicles for laundering the proceeds of crime, corruption, terror and tax evasion, yet the United States is the second easiest place in the world — next to Kenya — for a criminal to form an anonymous shell company to launder his money with impunity.

Nearly two million companies are incorporated in the United States each year, and not a single one is required to disclose the true, human person who owns or controls it when it is set up. Indeed, in some states, it’s easier to form a company than to obtain a library card.

A longstanding bipartisan proposal exists in Congress to peel back the secrecy behind these companies, helping to protect the American people from terror financing, fraudsters and drug lords.