Brendan Fischer for CLC:

Terrorists, Russian oligarchs, and even cats could find a way to funnel money into U.S. elections, thanks to lax U.S. rules for shell corporations and a deadlocked Federal Election Commission (FEC) that refuses to enforce the law.

Anonymous shell corporations have been pushed into the headlines by the “Panama Papers,” a trove of 11.5 million documents leaked from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm, which are shining a rare spotlight on the shady world of money laundering. The documents show how dozens of foreign leaders, as well as Russian oligarchs, terrorists and celebrities, hide their money and dodge taxes through a web of shell companies and offshore bank accounts. Iceland’s Prime Minister has already resigned, and the fallout will likely continue to spread.

But the documents also show that offshore tax havens aren’t isolated to Panama and the Cayman Islands: the U.S. is becoming an increasingly popular place to launder money, given the ease with which anonymous Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) can be created in places like Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada.