‘Wyoming Corporate Services’ Draws National Scrutiny [AUDIO]

A little business building in Cheyenne received some national attention Tuesday for establishing firms that can be used as shell corporations to hide assets. This is coming to light after an investigation by the news source Reuters.

"A little house of secrets on the Great Plains:"

According to their report, more than 2,000 companies are registered to the address and they are calling this business "a little Cayman Island on the great plains."

Wyoming Corporate Services, WCS, is the business that, according to Reuters, helps create a corporation, set up a bank account, add a lawyer as a corporate director to invoke attorney-client privilege and even appoint stand-in directors as officers as high as CEO.

Reuters found that owners of shell companies registered to Wyoming Corporate Services include a man who was indicted in April for allegedly helping online poker operators evade a U.S. ban on Internet gambling.

Reuters says that this mass production of paper businesses--like what is happening at WCS--occurs most frequently in three states with a light regulatory touch, Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming.

According to the Wyoming Corporate Services website, Wyoming offers advantages such as not having to pay fees for corporate assets not physically in Wyoming, the ability for owners to nominate someone else to be named in public records and owners never having to set foot in the state.

There is also a list of corporations already set up and the longer the corporation has been on the shelf, the more expensive it is. WCS refused to comment and the Cheyenne attorney, Graham Norris Jr. cited in the Reuters report, did not return a call Tuesday.

Wyoming Secretary of State Max Maxfield gave this statement to our sister station KGAB in Cheyenne.

-Contributed by Brooke Eades and Daniel Sandoval

WATCH THE ORIGINAL STORY FROM REUTERS: