Ending the shell game: Maloney sees housing
break for New Yorkers in her shell company ban
BY MARK HALLUM
Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney is pitching a bill
on Capitol Hill that will
put an end to shell companies
across the United States, and possibly
alleviate some of the issues
facing everyday New Yorkers in
an infl ated housing market.
The main objective of the bill,
however, is national security
exemplifi ed in the history of 650
Fifth Ave., once owned by the
Iranian government and used to
launder money for the benefi t of
terrorism groups.
“It’s not owned by the government
of Iran anymore. It’s owned
by a private U.S. company, but
for many years, Iran was able
to circumvent U.S. sanctions
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney with George Venizelos, Assistant
Director of the New York Division of the FBI on Dec. 11.
and launder their money, right
here, in the US fi nancial system,”
Maloney said. “Now, people ask
how did they do this? They used
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
two anonymous shell companies,
both formed here in the United
States that hid their ownership.
Fortunately the era of anonymous
shell companies is almost about
to end.”
The solution, according to
Maloney, is as direct as requiring
all companies to disclose their
benefi cial owners to the U.S.
Treasury Department at the time
when an LLC is established.
Included in National defense
Authorization Act of 2021, Maloney
said existing companies
will be required by law to identify
their owners as well.
“If you drive through Midtown
Manhattan at night, you’ll see
entire buildings that don’t have
any lights on. That’s because no
one lives there,” Maloney said.
“They’re really bank accounts and
they’re purchased to hide money
and when kleptocrats can no
longer hoard their money in real
estate in New York, that limits the
availability of housing. So my bill
will also drive down the cost of
housing in New York.”
This is not the fi rst time Maloney
has attempted to curb the use
of shell companies.
In 2009, similar legislation
was introduced under the name
Incorporation Transparency and
Law Enforcement Assistance Act.
Some variation of the bill has
been introduced in the chamber
of every subsequent congress
since then including the Corporate
Transparency Act of 2019.
Though the bill has passed
in congress, it has seen no such
success in the senate having
been held up in the Committee
on Banking, Housing and Urban
Affairs since 2019.
‘Walking while trans’ repeal resolutions pass City Council;
eyes turn to Albany for action
BY MATT TRACY
The New York City Council
on Dec. 10 passed two
resolutions encouraging
the State Legislature to repeal
a loitering law used by police
to target transgender women of
color and seal the records of folks
convicted under that law.
The votes were only symbolic,
but the resolutions immediately
put pressure back on the State
Legislature — which is not currently
in session — to take action
on a long overdue legislative effort
in Albany that has stalled, at least
for now, despite suffi cient support
from both chambers and Governor
Andrew Cuomo.
City lawmakers fi rst passed a
resolution in support of the main
piece of legislation at the state
level that would repeal Section
240.37 of the New York Penal
Law, which has become known
as a ban on “Walking While
Trans” because law enforcement
offi cers have stopped, harassed,
and arrested trans women for
absurd reasons, such as the way
individuals are walking or what
they are wearing.
Councilmembers Chaim
Deutsch and Kalman Yeger of
Brooklyn, Joe Borelli and Steven
Matteo of Staten Island, Ruben
Diaz Sr. of the Bronx, and Robert
Holden of Queens voted against
it.
The Council then passed an
accompanying resolution urging
the state to pass a law aimed at allowing
convictions under 240.37
to be sealed — which advocates
say is crucial to ensuring that
individuals do not face years-long
barriers in access to jobs and
government benefi ts because of
their record.
Deutsch, Borelli, Matteo,
Diaz, Holden, and Eric Ulrich, of
Queens, rejected the resolution,
while Yeger abstained.
“For far too long, the trans
community has been unfairly and
unjustly targeted by law enforcement,”
out gay Speaker Corey
Johnson told Gay City News in
a written statement. “‘Walking
While Trans’ is a right, not a
crime, and the State penal code
should refl ect that. Albany has
to act now, the time to repeal the
‘Walking While Trans’ ban is long
overdue.”
Manhattan Councilmember
Carlina Rivera fi rst proposed the
main resolution in the City Council
last year and it unanimously
passed the Committee on Women
and Gender Equity.This year Rivera
again led both resolutions—
and the main one drew a total of
29 sponsors.
“Thanks Carlina Rivera for
your leadership,” tweeted Bianey
Garcia, who testifi ed at a recent
City Council hearing about her
own experience getting targeted
under the loitering law. “I’m so
THRILLED that @NYCCouncil
passed resolution 923 and 144.
Trans women demand the State
Assembly and State Senate repeal
the law.”
Thanks in large part to the
advocacy of the Walking While
Trans Ban coalition, the repeal
effort is seemingly well positioned
for passage at the state level. But
State Senate Majority Leader
Andrea Stewart-Cousins and
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie
have yet to bring it to the fl oor
for a vote.
Out gay State Senator Brad
Hoylman of Manhattan is leading
the effort behind the repeal
bill in the upper house, while
State Assemblymember Amy
Paulin of Westchester is the lead
sponsor of the bill in the lower
chamber.
Paulin told Gay City News in
Manhattan Councilmember Carlina Rivera (foreground,
flanked by colleagues Daniel Dromm of Queens and Mark
Levine of Manhattan) steered two resolutions to passage just
days after advocates like Bianey Garcia (left) explained how
they were victimized under a discriminatory loitering law the
Council is urging the State Legislature to repeal.
September that the Assembly was
waiting on the State Senate, but
said “the word I got back is the
Senate has no interest in this bill
right now.”
Still, Paulin said during a
Zoom demonstration on December
3 that she was confi dent that
the State Legislature would “get
this done.”
In a written statement, Hoylman
thanked the City Council
for backing his legislation and he
indicated that he would focus on
repealing the loitering law next
year.
“I’m grateful to Councilmember
FILE PHOTO
Carlina Rivera, Council Speaker
Corey Johnson and the rest of the
New York City Council for passing
a resolution urging Albany to
repeal the ‘Walking While Trans’
ban,” Hoylman said in a written
statement. “Repealing this statute,
which permits transgender women
of color to be profi led and harassed
by local law enforcement,
is one of my top priorities for
2021. Thanks to the hard work of
many advocates across the state,
we’ve got enough co-sponsors in
each house of the Legislature to
pass this legislation.”
4 December 17, 2020 Schneps Media