Detecting, disrupting and deterring sexual exploitation of trafficked persons: leveraging beneficial ownership registries to reduce criminogenic information asymmetry and raise public expectations

Beneficial ownership disclosure laws address information asymmetries that enable financial crime. The domain awareness beneficial ownership registries afford enables detection, disruption and deterrence of proceeds of crime from being laundered through corporate vehicles, such as shell and front companies. In Australia and Canada, beneficial ownership regime reforms are now on the political agenda. But how best to balance privacy considerations against the common good in implementation: should beneficial ownership registers be<br/>accessible only to government and law enforcement, or also to the public, in whole or in part? The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) support limited public access. For empirical evidence, this article draws on illicit massage businesses (IMBs), which serve a dual purpose: human trafficking for profit and a seemingly legitimate front to launder illicit proceeds. This article makes the case for robust beneficial ownership disclosure legislation, with basic access for the public and full access for competent authorities, as a necessary yet insufficient condition in confronting financial crime associated with the exploitation of trafficked persons.