shell company
shell company — noun
1. a business that exists only on paper, with no real office, staff, or trade, set
a business that exists only on paper, with no real office, staff, or trade, set up to keep the true owner's identity hidden — often for moving money or avoiding taxes
The businessman set up a shell company in Panama to avoid paying tax.
set up a shell company in [place]
The offshore villa was registered under a shell company in the Cayman Islands.
passive: be registered under a shell company
A corrupt official used a shell company to hide money from government investigators.
Journalists traced the suspicious payments back to a shell company in Luxembourg.
It took investigators three years to discover who owned the shell company.
- paper company
informal; identical in meaning but more casual
- front company
implies illegal or deceptive activity more strongly than shell company
- dummy corporation
slightly dated, more common in legal documents
- operating company
a company with actual business activities, staff, and assets
文法句型
set up + a shell company
registered under + a shell company
owned through + a shell company
用法筆記
Refers only to companies with no real business activity — not just any small or inactive business. Common in discussions of tax havens and financial crime. The company itself has no employees, physical office, or genuine operations.