Sherry Behr

[Casey Michel @cjcmichel]

The Trump administration just made it official: it's demolishing the US's shell company registry, and destroying all of the data it already collected.

A disaster for US anti-corruption efforts.

[Jessica Tillipman @JTillipman]

Treasury’s own analysts disagree.

In May, GAO found that U.S. shell companies continue to pose significant illicit finance risks, citing Treasury’s 2026 National Money Laundering Risk Assessment, which documented shell companies laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking, cybercrime, and fraud. https://t.co/TPabGw2mUT

Given the significant risks, GAO asked Treasury identify options for addressing the gap the exemption creates. Treasury refused and now it has finalized a rule that exempts over 99 percent of the entities that were previously required to report.

As GAO has explained, “….there are generally no restrictions on foreign ownership of companies formed in the United States. As a result, an exempt domestic reporting company could have foreign (non-U.S.) ownership, or transnational criminal organizations could use individuals in the United States to establish U.S. shell companies to facilitate illicit activity.”

In other words, by exempting domestic entities from beneficial ownership reporting, Treasury has created a loophole so large that the US corporate transparency requirements are functionally meaningless for anyone sophisticated enough to spend five minutes at a secretary of state’s website.

[Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya]

"Beneficial ownership" is just about the most fundamental thing you can know about a company: Who controls it and benefits (profits) from its activities?

In the United States, this information is not public. But now companies don't even have to report it to the government for law enforcement purposes.

[ABC News @ABC]

A new review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found the Department of Government Efficiency site's claim of $110 billion in taxpayer savings was vastly inflated and unreliable. https://t.co/SlQgGwelaR

[Eric Boehm @EricBoehm87]

Remember the famous "Wall of Receipts" that the @DOGE was (briefly) maintaining?

New GAO report says it was mostly just made up

[ProPublica @propublica]

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.

Hundreds of kids are still detained. We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Listen to her, and a discussion of why professional civil servants protect the law and our democracy, here:
https://t.co/WNxqotKC4S

[Piyush Mittal 🇺🇸🇺🇦🟧🌊🌈 @piyushmittal]

Wait … the USDA chief is trying to fill key jobs after paying 15,000 people to leave? Why were people in those key jobs let go if they were needed? 🤦‍♂️
https://t.co/MZDjZSula2

[Wendy R. Sherman @wendyrsherman]

I went to a retirement party for an extraordinary public servant; a patriot who wanted nothing more than to serve his country.
But, the actions of this President forced his resignation long before his due date.

[Mark Cuban @mcuban]

In other words, independent pharmacies subsidize profits for the big 3 PBMs

Hate to say this, but the Medicare Advantage program seniors pick may be putting your local Indy pharmacy out of business. Next renewal, ask how much they pay pharmacies. And pharmacists need to help their senior patients figure this out

I would hand out flyers saying which MA plans support you the most.

Even worse, your employer has no idea that their insurance decisions are also putting pharmacies in bankruptcy

Not a single CEO I have spoken had any idea they were contributing to the death of Indy pharmacies

Indy pharmacies need to be proactive and educate local employers

It is wrong on so many levels that this is happening.

Time to fight back

[Jeff Sherman @ShermanJeff]

Only in Wisconsin.

It’s 10 degrees, and a group runs along Lake Michigan with a ⁦@packers⁩ flag!

#NFL
#GoPackGo

[Melissa Sanchez @msanchezMIA]

In a rare interview, she wept: “I’m a Republican who stands up for the truth and not for a lie.” But for the most part, though, Marge Bostelmann was defiant, insisting the 2020 election was not stolen by Joe Biden.
Fascinating story by @MegsNewz
https://t.co/fRvEQbcXI9

[Barry Butler Photography @barrybutler9]

Triple Strike! Simultaneous Lightning Hits - Hancock, Trump Hotel and Sears Tower. 12:36am on Saturday morning in Chicago. All in one exposure. #lightning #storm #ilwx #chicago #weather

[Cory Doctorow NO LONGER ON TWIT TER @doctorow]

#PrivateEquity is *quite* a racket. #PE managers pile up other peoples' money - pension funds, plutes, other pools of money - and then "invest" it (buying businesses, loading them with debt, cutting wages, lowering quality and setting traps for customers).

1/

[Cory Doctorow NO LONGER ON TWIT TER @doctorow]

#Sopranos fans know the #BustOut as a mob tactic in which a business is taken over, loaded up with debt, and driven into the ground, wrecking the business's workers, customers and suppliers. When the mob does it, it's a bust out; when Wall Street does it, it's #PrivateEquity.

1/

[Christopher David @Tazerface16]

My parents are both in the 80s, and I am only now just realizing this morning how they are being regularly victimized by low-level scams targeted at older folks.

There are entire industries solely designed to target seniors and extract small/medium amounts of money from them...

[Sheldon Whitehouse @SenWhitehouse]

This is a long deep dive into the secretive democracy-killing creepshow we are up against. You may want an airsick bag handy when you read it. 

https://t.co/VQYWhMoi7C

[Billy Binion @billybinion]

Thread: The Supreme Court is hearing a big case tomorrow. It should unite everyone: left, right & center. And the national press has almost totally ignored it.

It centers on an elderly woman who fell behind on her taxes. So the county took her home, sold it, and kept the profit.

[ProPublica @propublica]

For decades, Justice Clarence Thomas has secretly accepted luxury trips from a major Republican donor, newly obtained documents and interviews show.

The extent and frequency of these apparent gifts to Thomas has no known precedent in modern SCOTUS history... 🧵👇