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Attorney General Jones Challenges Trump Administration’s Gift to Fraudsters and Tax Cheats 

RICHMOND, Va. — Attorney General Jones has joined a coalition in filling a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from gutting a law that helps police and prosecutors catch fraudsters and tax cheats. 

The Corporate Transparency Act requires businesses to tell the federal government who actually owns and controls them. That matters because criminals often hide their money in shell companies — businesses that exist on paper but don’t do much of anything — so their names never show up. Now the United States Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, has exempted 99.9% of businesses from the law, making it nearly useless. 

“The Trump administration has rendered the Corporate Transparency Act, a bipartisan law that supported the work of law enforcement, toothless,” said Attorney General Jay Jones. “Investigators can no longer use the database this law created to hold bad actors accountable. Instead of looking out for consumers, supporting law enforcement, and lifting up lawful business practices, Donald Trump has given white collar criminals a leg up in skirting the justice system. Virginians deserve better.” 

Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act with bipartisan support in 2021. It created a Treasury database of business owners that law enforcement can use to trace dirty money and hold bad actors accountable.  

In August 2026, the Trump administration issued a rule exempting nearly every business from reporting. Then FinCEN went further, announcing it would delete the ownership information already in the database, records that likely include evidence of unsolved crimes. The states argue that would break multiple federal laws.  

The lawsuit says FinCEN: 

• Violated the Corporate Transparency Act and Administrative Procedure Act 

• Skipped required legal steps before changing the rule 

• Acted arbitrarily and without a reasonable explanation 

• Failed to properly consult the Secretary of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney General before exempting nearly all businesses 

If the states win, the court would throw out FinCEN’s rule and require the agency to keep collecting and maintaining the ownership database for law enforcement. 

The case, State of Oregon v. Bessent, is being filed today in U.S. District Court in Eugene. 

The case is led by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. Also joining are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Washington, DC, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. 

Published on: October 27, 2026

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