JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (September 11, 2025) – Holland & Knight filed an amicus brief on September 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on behalf of the American Land Title Association (ALTA) contesting the reasonableness of significant anti-money laundering (AML) regulations promulgated under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a unit of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, applicable to residential real estate transactions ( the Rule).
The Rule, scheduled to become effective nationwide on December 1, 2025, requires persons involved in certain residential real estate transactions involving legal entity buyers and "cash transactions" – i.e., transactions not involving a mortgage or other financing provided by a financial institution covered by the BSA – to file a detailed report with FinCEN disclosing information about the transaction, including the beneficial ownership information (BOI) of the legal entity buyer. FinCEN projects that the Rule will require 800,000 to 850,000 reports to be filed annually. ALTA estimates that its members will have to file more than half of these reports.
ALTA, the national voice of the title insurance and settlement services industry, has approximately 5,700 company members, ranging from very small, one-county operations to larger, national title insurers. ALTA filed the amicus brief to provide the court with important information on the substantial compliance burdens that the Rule will impose upon ALTA's membership – particularly small businesses – and the speculative nature of the Rule's purported benefits.
The brief, which was written and submitted by Holland & Knight Partners Peter Hardy and Laura Renstrom, Senior Counsel Siana Danch and Associate Daniel Mahfood, argues that FinCEN significantly underestimated the Rule's costs to industry relating to reporting, training and recordkeeping. The brief also argues that FinCEN substantially overstated the Rule's benefits to regulators and law enforcement, particularly because FinCEN recently stated, when substantially revising AML regulations relating to the Corporate Transparency Act, that similar BOI reporting provides only "speculative" benefits.
ALTA filed its brief in support of one of its members, which has filed a complaint contesting the Rule's statutory authority and basis under the U.S. Constitution.