ICIJ Cyprus Confidential Investigation Exposes Wyoming as Premier U.S. Tax Haven Overtaking Delaware

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists releases its Cyprus Confidential investigation exposing Wyoming as America’s premier secrecy jurisdiction, having overtaken Delaware for the most corporate registrations per capita. Analysis by corporate data firm OpenCorporates shows Wyoming incorporations surged 30% in 2023 while Delaware’s growth rate slowed, cementing the least-populated U.S. state’s reputation as a top secrecy destination for the ultrawealthy. The investigation, based on 3.6 million leaked documents from seven sources, reveals how Cyprus-based corporate services firms actively market Wyoming’s anonymous LLC and trust structures to international clients seeking to hide wealth from tax authorities and foreign governments.

Leaked promotional documents from Cyprus firm ConnectedSky explicitly tout Wyoming’s “privacy laws” and “responsive legislature” as enabling the state to overtake “the Cayman Islands, Singapore and New Zealand” as the preferred jurisdiction for forming anonymous LLCs and trusts. The documents brazenly state that Wyoming “is not a target of the Inland Revenue Services to discover unreported taxes,” highlighting tax evasion as a selling point. ConnectedSky and similar firms market the “cowboy cocktail” structure: an anonymous LLC designated as controller of a Wyoming trust, which in turn holds a separate Wyoming-registered LLC, creating multiple layers of corporate secrecy. Gary Kalman, director of Transparency International’s U.S. office, calls the documents’ “brazen promotion of secrecy” a “red flag for law enforcement” regarding the type of business Wyoming attracts.

Wyoming’s emergence as America’s premier tax haven exemplifies regulatory capture through deliberate legislative design. Since creating the first LLC laws in 1977, Wyoming has systematically constructed legal infrastructure enabling anonymous corporate ownership while charging no corporate income tax, no personal income tax, and no franchise tax. The state’s “responsive legislature” actively maintains secrecy provisions despite mounting evidence of abuse: Reuters documented at least three instances in four months where Wyoming LLCs were used by cybercriminals to route internet traffic through U.S. addresses and bypass security defenses. The ICIJ investigation demonstrates how Wyoming combines trust laws with anonymous LLC formation to create “one of the world’s most secretive tax havens,” enabling ultrawealthy individuals globally to hide wealth movements from home and foreign governments. This represents institutional capture where a state government deliberately constructs and maintains infrastructure for financial secrecy, prioritizing anonymous incorporation fees over transparency, law enforcement needs, or ethical governance. Wyoming’s emergence as the preferred U.S. jurisdiction for Russian oligarchs, sanctions evaders, and international kleptocrats reveals how American federalism enables individual states to serve as sovereign tax havens competing with Caribbean islands and European secrecy jurisdictions.