California Counties Targeted to Identify High-End Cash Purchasers of Real Estate

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a new program that will require U.S. title insurance companies to identify the people hiding behind shell companies who use those companies to pay cash in expensive real estate transactions. Following Geographic Targeting Orders (GTOs), title insurance companies in the counties of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Diego will provide details of all-cash luxury purchases of residential properties by a legal entity, such as an LLC, to FinCEN for six months beginning August 28, 2016. Earlier this year FinCEN issued similar GTOs in Manhattan and Miami-Dade County. By expanding into California and other parts of New York, Florida, and Texas, FinCEN hopes to continue to identify and thwart the abuse of these transactions for money laundering purposes.