By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) – A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday lifted an order that blocked the enforcement of an anti-money laundering law that forces millions of business entities to disclose the identities of their real beneficial owners to the Treasury Department.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle in Tyler, Texas, put on hold an order he issued halting the Corporate Transparency Act’s enforcement after Republican President Donald Trump’s administration vowed to reevaluate regulations implementing the law “to alleviate the burden on low-risk entities.”
Tuesday’s decision will allow the law to be enforced while the U.S. Department of Justice appeals his earlier ruling declaring the law unconstitutional.
The 2021 law requires corporations and LLCs to report information concerning their beneficial owners to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, which collects and analyzes information about financial transactions to combat money laundering and other crimes.
Kernodle on January 7 concluded the law violated the U.S. Constitution, saying it went too far by regulating private companies formed under state law regardless of whether they were engaged in interstate commerce.
In Tuesday’s order, Kernodle, who was appointed by Trump during his first term in office, noted that the U.S. Supreme Court days after he issued his ruling paused a decision by a different judge who similarly declared the law unconstitutional and blocked its enforcement.
The Supreme Court’s January 23 action only concerned Texas-based U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant’s injunction, meaning until Kernodle’s later-issued ruling was paused or overturned, the law’s enforcement remained on hold.
The Trump administration in a motion said that if Kernodle agreed to pause his ruling, FinCEN would extend the deadline for companies to file reports disclosing their beneficial owners by 30 days to give it time to consider modifying the reporting requirements.
The administration’s request to let the law go back into effect was opposed by the plaintiffs in the case, two corporate entity owners represented by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation.
They argued the law should remain paused until the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court could “evaluate its novel expansion of federal power.”
Lawyers for the plaintiffs and FinCEN did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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