Feds Move to Clean Up Dirty Cash Purchases of Manhattan Real Estate

In a move to clean up the laundering of illicit foreign money flowing into American real estate, the U.S. Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it will begin tracking cash purchases of luxury residential properties in Manhattan and Miami-Dade County.

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FCEN) said that it will require U.S. title companies to identify cash purchasers by name. New York and Miami are two magnets for international real estate investors who, according to the government, may be “attempting to hide their assets and identities by purchasing residential properties through limited liability companies and other opaque structures.” Which is a nice way of saying shell companies.

“We are seeking to understand the risk that corrupt foreign officials or transnational criminals may be using premium U.S. real estate to secretly invest millions in dirty money,” said FCEN director Jennifer Shasky Calvery.