This article is a follow-up to Follow the Money, published in May, and Follow the Money: Part II, published in November.
In July 2016, as a Texas-based federal task force seized millions of dollars in property investigators believed was owned by kleptocrats from Mexico, federal regulators decided to take action. According to prosecutors, corrupt officials and government contractors used Texas businessmen to set up limited liability companies, through which they funneled funds stolen from Mexican taxpayers to buy dozens of empty lots, homes, and commercial buildings. Washington, D.C.-based regulators, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), responded with an expansion of its real estate regulations meant to detect and deter money laundering in selected U.S. cities.
But there was a problem.
