Registered Agents Inc.

Last updated
Registered Agents Inc.
Founded2008;18 years ago (2008)
FounderDan Keen
Headquarters
Sheridan, Wyoming
,
United States [1]
Services Registered agent
Subsidiaries Epik
Website www.registeredagentsinc.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Registered Agents Inc. (RAI) is an American registered agent firm founded in 2008. The company provides business formation services to set up limited liability companies and corporations and acts as a point of contact for legal notices. The company is headquartered in Wyoming where approximately 266,000 companies registered using RAI's address between 2019 and 2024, making up over 40% of all new incorporations within the state during that time. [2]

Contents

As a registered agent, RAI lists its address on client formation documents, obscuring ownership. In some reported instances, employees have used pseudonyms on clients' business formation documents. [3] [4]

In 2024, the company received media coverage after acquiring Epik, a domain registrar and web hosting company known for providing domain registration services to the alt-right. [3] [5] [4]

History

In 2008, Dan Keen founded RAI after running a tree trimming and landscaping business. [4] Initially focusing on company incorporation in the Pacific Northwest, [6] Dan Keen grew RAI into a registered agent incorporating companies throughout the United States. [4] According to Wired , RAI is a "one-stop shop for people seeking to incorporate a business in any US state, often in those with advantageous tax policies, while obscuring their identities." [4] RAI uses pseudonyms to mask the identities of its employees and to sign their customers' incorporation documents, according to Wired. [4] In Wyoming alone, RAI serves as the registered agent for over 50,000 companies. [7]

In 2020, RAI threatened to sue a Wyoming newspaper, The Sheridan Press, after it reported RAI to be the registered agent of companies with no presence in Wyoming that had received CARES Act money during the COVID-19 pandemic. [6] [8] In 2022, a joint investigation by The Washington Post and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists stated that registered agents with apparent ties to RAI represented companies accused by Brazilian officials of laundering COVID-19 funds. [8] A half-dozen other companies that registered using RAI's address of 30 North Gould Street in Sheridan were listed in criminal indictments for misuse of funds. Another company, the Alo Group, which received $531,562 in Paycheck Protection Program funds (PPP), later switched its address to an address in China before being administratively dissolved for not filing state paperwork in 2022. [2]

Also in 2022, KELO-TV reported that RAI served as the registered agent for a company operating illegal robocalls targeted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). [9] In 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that a company incorporated with RAI was used in cyberattacks against media organizations in several countries. [10] The same year, according to Reuters, RAI served as the registered agent for LLCs used in cyberattacks, including one linked to a Russian entrepreneur and another used in an attack targeting Somali journalists. [11] RAI was one of two firms that registered 55 percent of all incorporations in Wyoming in 2023, the year that Wyoming surpassed Delaware as the U.S. state with the most incorporations. [12]

In January 2024, RAI was reported to serve as the registered agent for a vital records intermediary company later shut down by the Wyoming authorities for misrepresentation. [13] The same year, an RAI-registered company was linked to an organization providing dark money to political campaigns, and another was linked to an election disinformation operation involving a proposed library bond. [14] [15] In May 2024, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray dissolved three companies registered by RAI that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found to be linked to fraud directed by North Korea's Ministry of Defence. [16] [17] [18]

Subsidiaries

In June 2023, RAI acquired Epik, a domain name registrar and web hosting service that had traditionally catered to far-right and extremist hate group websites that had been denied service by other internet service providers. [3] [19] [20] [4] For ICANN accreditation in 2023, there was an update to the terms of service and "problematic" clients were removed, including controversial customers such as Kiwi Farms and Gab. Focus was shifted to RAI's business clients. [5] [21] [22]

RAI also owns a software development company called Two Barrels LLC and a company that helps manage multiple corporation filings called Corporate Tools LLC. [4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wolfson, Leo (2024-07-30). "Are Wyoming's Secretive LLC Laws Making State A "Haven For Scammers?"". Cowboy State Daily. Archived from the original on 2024-07-31.
  2. 1 2 Woodman, Spencer (March 4, 2025). "Millions in Covid relief funds went to shadowy companies registered at a Wyoming storefront that hundreds of thousands of firms used as an address". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists . Archived from the original on 2025-03-05. Retrieved March 6, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Turton, William (February 8, 2024). "The Far Right's Favorite Web Host Has a Shadowy New Owner". Wired . ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on February 13, 2024. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Turton, William; Mehrotra, Dhruv (March 5, 2024). "The Secrets Factory". Wired . ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2024-03-09. Retrieved 2024-03-10. The company routinely incorporates thousands of businesses on behalf of its customers using fake personas. Former Registered Agents Inc. employees say that the company's widespread use of personas is an outgrowth of its founder's obsession with privacy and a desire to push the boundaries of incorporation laws.
  5. 1 2 Collins, Benedict (February 9, 2024). "The world's most controversial domain registrar has a new owner — and apparently it is "forging a new path"". TechRadar . Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Czaban, Kristen (November 25, 2020). "Commercial registered agents bring business with unintended consequences". The Sheridan Press. Archived from the original on February 20, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
  7. ↑ Snoozy, Ashleigh (July 17, 2023). "Another scam recorded from business related to 30 N. Gould St. registered agent". The Sheridan Press. Archived from the original on February 13, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  8. 1 2 Will, Fitzgibbon; Cenziper, Debbie; Crites, Alice (April 5, 2022). "The gatekeepers who help open America to oligarchs and scammers". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists . Archived from the original on March 5, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
  9. ↑ Soulek, Lauren (July 11, 2022). "Some scam robocalls may stem from a SD company". KELO-TV . Archived from the original on August 14, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  10. ↑ Rozen, Jonathan (2023-09-19). "'Network abuse': Attacks on 3 media sites involved services of US, UK firms". Committee to Protect Journalists . Archived from the original on 2024-07-28. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  11. ↑ Satter, Raphael (December 12, 2023). "How cybercriminals are using Wyoming shell companies for global hacks". Reuters . Archived from the original on December 12, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  12. ↑ Woodman, Spencer (December 3, 2024). "With sharp rise in incorporations, Wyoming cements reputation as US secrecy haven". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists . Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  13. ↑ McFarland, Clair (January 19, 2024). "Official Wyoming Record-Keeper Warns Of Shady Online Sites Hoarding Personal Data". Cowboy State Daily. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  14. ↑ Racker, Mini; Sollenberger, Roger (May 16, 2024). "This Mysterious New GOP Dark Money Group Raises All Kinds of Red Flags". The Daily Beast . Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  15. ↑ Hussein, Tayeba (March 10, 2024). "Dirty tricks in Maitland library campaign? Hit mailer flouts political laws". Orlando Sentinel . Archived from the original on March 17, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  16. ↑ Turton, William (June 5, 2024). "A US Company Enabled a North Korean Scam That Raised Money for WMDs". Wired . Archived from the original on June 5, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  17. ↑ Wolfson, Leo (May 21, 2024). "Chuck Gray Strips North Korean Businesses Of Wyoming Licenses After Flagged By FBI". Cowboy State Daily. Archived from the original on May 22, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  18. ↑ Gookin, Marit (May 22, 2024). "North Korean businesses registered under false information dissolved". Gillette News Record . Archived from the original on May 22, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  19. ↑ Allemann, Andrew (3 June 2023). "Epik is sold". Domain Name Wire. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  20. ↑ Allemann, Andrew (February 5, 2024). "Registered Agents Inc. indeed acquired Epik". Domain Name Wire. Archived from the original on March 22, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  21. ↑ Murphy, Kevin (2024-03-19). "Epik backtracks on Kiwi Farms claim after legal threat". Domain Incite. Archived from the original on 2025-04-28. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  22. ↑ Allemann, Andrew (2024-01-24). "Epik boots Kiwi Farms, vows to boot "absolutist free speech websites"". Domain Name Wire. Archived from the original on 2025-03-30. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
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