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What is a Shell Company?

A shell company is a company that exists only on paper. It has no physical office, no employees, and produces no goods or services. While this sounds suspicious, they can be used for both perfectly legal and highly illegal purposes. This section helps you explore the two sides of the coin.

Legitimate Business Functions

For privacy, liability protection, or complex corporate structuring, shell companies can be useful tools:

Holding Assets: Used to hold intellectual property (patents, trademarks) or real estate, separating it from the risks of an operating company.
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A): A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) is a type of shell company created to raise capital and buy another company.
Corporate Structuring: Large multinational corporations use them to manage assets and operations across different countries.
Estate and Tax Planning: Can be used by wealthy individuals for privacy or to manage family trusts and assets.

How Do They Work?

Creating a shell company is often surprisingly easy. The key is "layering"âcreating a complex, multi-national web of companies to make it almost impossible to trace the real owner. This section breaks down the typical process and shows where these companies are often registered.

The Path to Anonymity

1

Incorporation

Register a company in a "secrecy jurisdiction" (a tax haven) with lax laws.

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2

Nominees

Appoint "nominee directors" (lawyers or paid actors) to sign papers and hide the real owner.

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3

Layering

Have this company be "owned" by another shell company in a *different* country.

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4

Bank Account

Use the "legal" company papers to open a bank account in a major financial hub.

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5

Transaction

Use the account to buy assets (yachts, real estate, art) with illicit, now "clean," money.

Top Secrecy Jurisdictions

This chart shows jurisdictions ranked by their "secrecy score," a measure of how much they help hide financial activities. Some, like Delaware and Wyoming, are right in the United States.

Why Are They a Problem?

The anonymity provided by shell companies has a massive real-world impact. It drains public funds, fuels conflict, and enables crime on a global scale. This section highlights the scale of the problem and the types of crime it facilitates.

$2 Trillion+

Estimated laundered annually

300,000+

Anonymous companies in Delaware

70%

Of major corruption cases use shell companies

Primary Sources of Illicit Funds

This chart breaks down the origins of the "dirty" money that needs to be laundered, based on global law enforcement estimates. Click on a segment to see its label.

Case Studies: The Leaks

Investigative journalists have exposed this hidden world through massive data leaks. The "Panama Papers" and "Pandora Papers" revealed how politicians, celebrities, and criminals use shell companies. Explore these two major investigations in the tabs below.

The Panama Papers

A leak of 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. It exposed a global system that allowed the wealthy and powerful to hide their money. The leak implicated 12 national leaders, 140 politicians, and numerous billionaires, leading to the resignation of Iceland's Prime Minister and widespread public outrage and investigations.

What Is Being Done?

In response to the growing problem, governments and international bodies are pushing for transparency. The main goal is to end anonymous ownership. This section outlines the key solutions being implemented or proposed.

Beneficial Ownership Registries

These are government databases that require companies to declare their *true*, human owner (the "Ultimate Beneficial Owner" or UBO). Some countries are making these registries public, so anyone can see who owns a company.

Stronger KYC Laws

"Know Your Customer" (KYC) rules force banks, lawyers, and real estate agents to do their homework. They must verify the identity of their clients and report suspicious activity, making it harder to use them as go-betweens.

International Cooperation

Since money moves across borders, countries must work together. This includes new treaties for automatically sharing tax information and cooperating on investigations to seize illicit assets hidden abroad.