Looking for corporation solutions focused on privacy

[ac2124]

I would like to ask the community to gather ideas on what can be done in this scenario. A Canadian citizen looking for a company setup that focuses on privacy to operate a adult niche website. This will need payment processing from either ccbill or verotel, so this limits countries to USA, Canada, and the EEA.

Now of course there are different degrees of privacy. At a bare minimum, this person shouldn't be listed on any public registrar (as director, shareholder, UBO, etc.). Open to using nominees, opening trusts, etc. What are some setups, or jurisdictions that should be looked into?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

darks or nominees, no other choices given the premises

 

[Jerry1911]

darks or nominees, no other choices given the premises

Why not a simple New Mexico LLC? Or Wyoming?

 

[forbidd3nknowl3dg3]

Why not a simple New Mexico LLC? Or Wyoming?

My knowledge is limited, but I agree with Jerry. I do not think your limited to only darks or nominees.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

My knowledge is limited, but I agree with Jerry. I do not think your limited to only darks or nominees.

What about banks? They need to know the UBO

 

[Vor]

What about banks? They need to know the UBO

I'd agree New Mexico LLC would work fine. Bank UBO data isn't public facing.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

I'd agree New Mexico LLC would work fine. Bank UBO data isn't public facing.

Banks share information on UBOs between themselves. If this is not a problem for the OP then any US LLC would be fine.

 

[ac2124]

I have tried a few services from these forums, non of them have worked so for.

If a nominee is used for a US LLC, who completes KYC for banking or payment processing? The nominee or UBO?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

I have tried a few services from these forums, non of them have worked so for.

If a nominee is used for a US LLC, who completes KYC for banking or payment processing? The nominee or UBO?

KYC is done on both the member and the signatory, if they are different persons.

 

[ac2124]

Can privacy be improved by having a company in BVI or Cayman Islands own a US LLC?

 

[Sols]

No, there is no difference. All you're doing is adding more paperwork.

 

[lostguy]

Not really, you will still have to provide information about UBO to the banks. If you don't have been a member of mentor group gold before you may have a look there. If you already have been a member and that is what you mean it hasn't worked out for, than I would say there is no solution for your requirement.

 

[Vor]

Can privacy be improved by having a company in BVI or Cayman Islands own a US LLC?

you can hide from everyone basically besides the bank. The bank will need to know who you are, the only way around this in 2022 is not with a nominee but with a total straw owner as the UBO. Which of course carries some big risks and legal issues.

 

[ac2124]

No, there is no difference. All you're doing is adding more paperwork.

Not really, you will still have to provide information about UBO to the banks. If you don't have been a member of mentor group gold before you may have a look there. If you already have been a member and that is what you mean it hasn't worked out for, than I would say there is no solution for your requirement.

you can hide from everyone basically besides the bank. The bank will need to know who you are, the only way around this in 2022 is not with a nominee but with a total straw owner as the UBO. Which of course carries some big risks and legal issues.

Wouldn't it add a layer of protection if the registering agent gives up your info? Or does the agent need to know the share holders/UBO of the company who is registering the US LLC? I am fine with the banks knowing UBO. The main goal is to not have UBO info public, and a bonus is protect from any law suits (but unlikely to happen) regarding DMCA, etc.

 

[Vor]

Wouldn't it add a layer of protection if the registering agent gives up your info? Or does the agent need to know the share holders/UBO of the company who is registering the US LLC? I am fine with the banks knowing UBO. The main goal is to not have UBO info public, and a bonus is protect from any law suits (but unlikely to happen) regarding DMCA, etc.

I'd imagine depends on the jurisdiction and the agent however having a entity owned by a BVI or Cayman entity is gonna make getting banking very tricky add on your in the adult industry and you will not be getting any account at a brick and mortar US bank for your LLC.

are you im assuming running some kind of tube site with content that is not properly licensed? hence the worry about unlikely but possible lawsuits?

 

[lostguy]

They is no way to hide from the bank the UBO, even with nominee's or real management the UBO has to be declared to the bank.

Only way around it is using some sort of dark setup, that's for the mentor group gold only.

 

[Vor]

They is no way to hide from the bank the UBO, even with nominee's or real management the UBO has to be declared to the bank.

Only way around it is using some sort of dark setup, that's for the mentor group gold only.

Luckily he said he doesn't care about hiding UBO from bank but just is worried about things like data leaks from agents etc. Which I'd imagine is gonna be a hard thing to protect against besides trying to find smaller more boutique incorporation agents that are less likely to be the targets of breaches perhaps.

 

[ac2124]

I'd imagine depends on the jurisdiction and the agent however having a entity owned by a BVI or Cayman entity is gonna make getting banking very tricky add on your in the adult industry and you will not be getting any account at a brick and mortar US bank for your LLC.

are you im assuming running some kind of tube site with content that is not properly licensed? hence the worry about unlikely but possible lawsuits?

Yes my worry is probably unlikely, but I'd rather have piece of mind. I don't want to be open for lawsuits whether it be DMCA or anything else. So I assume having a BVI company own a USA LLC doesn't solve the payment processing issue since they will ultimiately look at the holding company?

They is no way to hide from the bank the UBO, even with nominee's or real management the UBO has to be declared to the bank.

Only way around it is using some sort of dark setup, that's for the mentor group gold only.

I don't need to hide UBO from banks and I will be paying taxes. Darks are hard to use longterm and issues always arise with verification or KYC.

Luckily he said he doesn't care about hiding UBO from bank but just is worried about things like data leaks from agents etc. Which I'd imagine is gonna be a hard thing to protect against besides trying to find smaller more boutique incorporation agents that are less likely to be the targets of breaches perhaps.

Since its a USA LLC, let's say there are DMCA claims, and the agent gives up the shareholders/UBO. I was thinking if a BVI company owns the USA LLC, the claims would stop there as BVI wouldn't care much to release the info of the BVI company.

 

[Vor]

Yes my worry is probably unlikely, but I'd rather have piece of mind. I don't want to be open for lawsuits whether it be DMCA or anything else. So I assume having a BVI company own a USA LLC doesn't solve the payment processing issue since they will ultimiately look at the holding company?

I don't need to hide UBO from banks and I will be paying taxes. Darks are hard to use longterm and issues always arise with verification or KYC.

Since its a USA LLC, let's say there are DMCA claims, and the agent gives up the shareholders/UBO. I was thinking if a BVI company owns the USA LLC, the claims would stop there as BVI wouldn't care much to release the info of the BVI company.

I mean how worth this all is also depends how much your making off this adult site is it $X,XXX or $XX,XXX or $XXX,XXX a month that will dictate how worth going through all these extra entities really is. If your listening to DMCA requests your odds of being sued are already extremely small like you said and then if your only making $X,XXX a month your probably not a big target for a lawsuit.

You'll need to check if BVI turns over ownership data for any reason a lot of the Caribbean countries have been forced to change their laws due to pressure from the OECD.

 

[forbidd3nknowl3dg3]

You'll need to check if BVI turns over ownership data for any reason a lot of the Caribbean countries have been forced to change their laws due to pressure from the OECD.

Agreed. Wouldn't incorporating outside the USA decrease OP's risk of leakage?