{"id":786,"date":"2018-11-20T16:28:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T16:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?p=786"},"modified":"2018-11-20T16:29:10","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T16:29:10","slug":"u-s-treasury-expands-gto-to-12-metropolitan-areas-and-lowers-reporting-threshold-to-300000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/20\/u-s-treasury-expands-gto-to-12-metropolitan-areas-and-lowers-reporting-threshold-to-300000\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Treasury Expands GTO to 12 Metropolitan Areas and Lowers Reporting Threshold to $300,000"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On November 15, 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced <\/a>the issuance of revised Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require<\/a> U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in all-cash purchases of residential real estate. The purchase amount threshold, which previously varied by city, is now set at $300,000 for each covered metropolitan area.\u00a0 FinCEN is also requiring that covered purchases using virtual currencies be reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior GTOs resulted in valuable data on the purchase of residential real estate by persons implicated, or allegedly involved, in various illicit enterprises including foreign corruption, organized crime,fraud, narcotics trafficking, and other violations. Reissuing the GTOs will further assist in tracking illicit funds and other criminal or illicit activity, as well as inform FinCEN\u2019s future regulatory efforts in this sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest GTOs cover certain counties within the following major U.S. metropolitan areas: Boston; Chicago; Dallas-Fort Worth; Honolulu;Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; New York City; San Antonio; San Diego; San Francisco; and Seattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FinCEN also realized Frequently Asked Questions<\/a>.\u00a0 The FAQs explain that one of the four criteria that triggers a Covered Transaction, is that\u00a0 \u201c(s)uch purchase is made, at least in part,using currency or a cashier\u2019s check, a certified check, a traveler\u2019s check, a personal check, a business check, or a money order in any form, a funds transfer, or virtual currency.\u201d Accordingly, payment of at least part of the purchase price using one of these methods, such as virtual currency, a wire transfer, a cashier\u2019s check (sometimes referred to as a \u201cbank check,\u201d \u201cofficial check,\u201d or \u201ctreasurer\u2019s check\u201d), a personal check, a business check, or a certified check, triggers a Covered Transaction, assuming the other criteria to trigger a GTO are met: \u201cresidential real property\u201d; foreign beneficial owner,which \u00a0means each individual who,directly or indirectly, owns 25% or more of the equity interests of the Purchaser; and a Covered Business\u2019s \u201cagents\u201d refers to people or entities that are authorized by the Covered Business, usually through a contractual relationship, to act on its behalf to provide title insurance\u00a0 underwritten by the Covered Business (or its subsidiaries).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.K. already has initiated a New Beneficial Ownership Register for UK Properties owned by Overseas Companies and other Legal Entities<\/a> that will go live in 2021.\u00a0 The British Columbia government has released regulations <\/a>to create a new condo and strata assignment register, in part in response to the significant number of foreign purchases of residences, some of which appear to be connected to proceeds of crime.\u00a0 With the international developments and the continuing extension of the GTOs by FinCEN,\u00a0 pressure is building for the GTOs to become permanent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On November 15, 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced the issuance of revised Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in all-cash purchases of residential real estate. The purchase amount threshold, which previously varied by city, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,8,45,6,18,19,5,4,46,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-international-administrative-penal-law","7":"category-counterterrorism-and-international-human-rights","8":"category-cybercrime-and-cryptocurrency","9":"category-economic-sanctions","10":"category-entity-transparency","11":"category-gatekeeper-obligations","12":"category-international-tax-enforcement-cooperation","13":"category-money-laundering-and-bank-secrecy","14":"category-tax-crime-enablers","15":"category-transnational-corruption-money-laundering-and-asset-forfeiture","16":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nU.S. Treasury Expands GTO to 12 Metropolitan Areas and Lowers Reporting Threshold to $300,000 | IELR Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/20\/u-s-treasury-expands-gto-to-12-metropolitan-areas-and-lowers-reporting-threshold-to-300000\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. Treasury Expands GTO to 12 Metropolitan Areas and Lowers Reporting Threshold to $300,000 | IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On November 15, 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced the issuance of revised Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs) that require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used in all-cash purchases of residential real estate. 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