After receiving $2.2 million from real estate interests, New York governor Kathy Hochul watered down an anti–money laundering bill, ensuring that information about the shadowy corporate landlords that control a wide swath of Manhattan real estate remains inaccessible to the public. These property owners have been associated with money laundering and other financial crimes, and Hochul’s move means tenants and workers abused by the system continue to have limited ways to seek justice.

The LLC Transparency Act, which was designed to crack down on anonymous shell companies operating in New York, required limited liability companies to report their owners’ identifying information to an online database. However, before Hochul signed the bill last December, she amended the language so that only government and law enforcement agencies can access business owners’ names.

This isn’t the first time Hochul has received campaign financing from the real estate industry. In the first five months after Hochul became acting governor following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s August 2021 resignation amid sexual abuse allegations, she received $21.6 million in contributions — much of which came from big real estate executives and developers.