Twenty-one States and D.C. Sue Trump Administration Over Rollback of Corporate Ownership Reporting Rules

A coalition of twenty-one U.S. states and the District of Columbia has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging its August rule that exempts U.S. companies and individuals from reporting beneficial ownership information to the Treasury Department's financial crimes unit. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, argues that the administration's action effectively guts the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act, which was designed to combat illicit finance by requiring disclosure of beneficial ownership. The states contend that the executive branch cannot repeal a law through rulemaking and that the new rule exempts over 99.9% of companies originally covered by the 2021 law.