Democratic lawmakers are seeking answers from the U.S. Treasury Department about Elon Musk’s possible role in dismantling a federal business accountability law.
The group, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, sent a letter on Monday morning asking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for all communications that could show Musk may have urged the administration to suspend the Corporate Transparency Act.
The 2021 law requires companies to report information about their ownership to the government, an effort to combat problems such as money laundering and terrorism. But a year ago, President Donald Trump’s administration said it would stop enforcing that law.
Now, Democratic lawmakers want to know if Musk influenced that decision. At the time, the billionaire was one of Trump’s chief advisers and was leading a cost-cutting effort across the federal government.
The lawmakers cited a February New York Times investigation that revealed that Musk was quietly operating at least 90 private companies in Texas. The Times’ reporting showed how Musk has used limited liability companies that disclose little about their ownership structure to disguise his spending, including to support Trump in the 2024 election.
Those are the types of companies that would likely have been subject to heightened disclosure under the Corporate Transparency Act, according to the letter. Musk would have benefited from fewer reporting rules, it added.
“It would be deeply troubling if Musk intervened in any way to limit these transparency requirements,” according to the letter, which was also signed by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Rep. Maxine Waters of California.
Musk and a spokesperson for the Treasury Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawmakers are asking the Treasury Department for all communications, including emails, text messages and phone calls, between Musk and Treasury Department officials about the Corporate Transparency Act by April 13.
Critics of the Corporate Transparency Act, which Congress passed during the Biden administration, say it is needlessly burdensome.
In 2024, a federal court ruled that the law should not be enacted after several small businesses sued. Early last year, the Supreme Court reversed that decision.
The Treasury Department suspended the law again a few months later. The federal government would no longer levy fines or other penalties for breaking the rules, according to a news release at the time.
The agency suspended the law last March one day after Musk posted on X, in response to a user frustrated about the law, that he “can look into it,” according to the letter.
The Times’ reporting detailed how Musk used a secret network of limited liability companies to buy land and homes in Texas, as well as to support Trump’s reelection campaign. The reporting showed that Musk stood to benefit from the suspension of the law, according to the letter.