Nevada laws allow businesses to keep the identity of their owners secret from law enforcement officers, making it easier for criminals to finance terrorists, hide drug money, launder money and evade federal income taxes, officials told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday.

One Nevada-based corporation, which was not identified, received more than 3,700 suspicious wire transfers totaling $81 million over two years, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

"This case has not (been) prosecuted, however, because (a federal law enforcement group) was unable to identify the corporation's owners," Permanent Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said in opening remarks.

Nevada Deputy Secretary of State Scott Anderson said his office has not received any complaints from federal or international law enforcement officers that the lack of ownership information hampered any investigations.

Nevada, Delaware and Wyoming are the most accommodating to companies that want to keep their owners' identities secret, said Stuart Nash, associate deputy attorney general and director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

However, Richard Geisenberger, assistant secretary of state in Delaware, defended his state's incorporation procedures as providing needed privacy to corporations and facilitating a positive investor climate with ease of capital formation.

Nevada does not require corporations and limited liability companies to file the names of the companies' owners.

Nevada allows companies to further hide corporate ownership by allowing employees of registered agents to file as "nominee" directors and officers -- although the agent's employees are only nominally officers and directors. That protects the identity of the real managers and directors, according to the subcommittee.

In addition, Nevada permits the owners of a company to hold stock in bearer form, which means whoever holds the stock certificate is the owner.

Anderson said a bill will be filed in the Nevada Legislature next year to prohibit bearer shares. Registered agents also are looking at potential legislation that might limit the use of nominee directors and officers, Anderson said.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., cited Nevada First Holdings, which has offices at 1117 Desert Lane in Las Vegas, as an example of the problem with secret business ownership.

Nevada First has "suites" for 850 operating companies, but Levin said Nevada First's building clearly couldn't contain offices for that many companies.

"A Nevada First employee, acting as a company officer or director, can provide his own name and Social Security number to open a company bank account or obtain an employer identification number from the IRS, so the true owners don't have to," Levin said.

Wayne Andre, client services director at Nevada First, defended his company.

"We're a law-abiding company that follows all statutes and guidelines," he said.

"A U.S. citizen can buy a company anywhere in this country without having to identify himself. That's constitutional law, my friend," Andre said.

The subcommittee is focused on getting laws changed either at the state or national level.