Hello, my friends, and welcome to another episode of Passive Real Estate Investing, and I'm your host, Marco Santarelli. I'm always glad when you tune in and listen to our episodes. Well, today's episode impacts pretty much everybody, so listen through to the end. It's not something that you want to miss. Now it, granted, it doesn't sound like an exciting episode topic when we're talking about legislation and the Corporate Transparency Act, but this is something you definitely need to know, not just want to know. Well, so what is it? What, what is the Corporate Transparency Act? Basically, it's an act that was enacted in the United States to address the issue of money laundering. It's also there to address terrorist financing and other illicit activities by requiring certain companies to disclose their beneficial ownership to the Financial Crimes enforcement networks. It's a government body, also known as F-I-N-C-E-N.

But the primary aim of the CTA or the Corporate Transparency Act is to enhance transparency in combat financial crimes. But it also has implications for real estate investors. And this is why I want you to pay attention to today's episode and really understand what it's for and why it's there and why you need to comply and report. Because the fees, I shouldn't call 'em fees. The penalties are pretty large and pretty stiff. And you know, my guest today, Ted Sutton, will explain what those are. And when I heard them, I didn't know what they were when I heard them, I thought, oh my gosh. I mean, that's pretty serious and pretty excessive. So it's not something you wanna fool around with. But real estate investments, you know, have often been utilized as a means to launder money because of its high value and the relative ease of transferring ownership with real estate.

So with the CTA in place real estate investors like me and you, particularly those who are operating through corporate structures such as limited liability companies and whatnot, you know, may be subject to the increased scrutiny of this act and the reporting requirements. And let me tell you right now, before you even listen to this interview, it probably and most likely does affect you. So yes, you are chalked into this circle.

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So, on that note, let's dive right into my interview with Ted and I think you're gonna get a lot out of today's episode. Well, it's my pleasure to welcome Ted Sutton to the show. He is a licensed attorney who is the son of bestselling author, and the Rich Dad advisor, Garrett Sutton, who by the way, has been on our show multiple times over the years. Ted Works for Corporate Direct and Sutton Law Center. He specializes in the area of business formation and compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act, which is something we're gonna talk about here today because most investors don't really know about it or what to do with it. And he's also the author of Five Tricks to Teach Your Kids about Money, which you can download for free. And we're gonna give you that link in a little bit just later in the episode. With that, Ted, welcome to the show.

Yeah well, thanks for having me on, Marco.

It's great to have you on. It's interesting. I've had your, your father on multiple times over the years and I knew of you, but I never really had you on the show. And so this is a first. So welcome.

Yep. Thank you for that. And it's nice because my dad is not here to hold my hand through it, so, you know, it's definitely sort of a coming out in a way.

So no, this is great. This is great. I’m honored to have you on. So, you know, let's start off with you. I mean, I gave a kind of a brief introduction. People are pretty familiar with your dad, you know, having authored multiple books, being one of the Rich Dad advisors with Robert Kiyosaki and all that good stuff. And, you know,