Something I think you are missing is that at the moment if the government is investigating potential money laundering and the trail leads to a shell company the

Something I think you are missing is that at the moment if the government is investigating potential money laundering and the trail leads to a shell company then the trail ends there. With the new law, if the company is registered to someone that doesn't exist then a felony has been committed and they can probably seize all the assets of the company. If the criminals risk forfeiting their money they may look to other avenues instead of using American shell companies. I very much doubt anyone is under the illusion that this will stop criminals trying to launder money through American companies, it just makes it easier to seize assets of potential laundering operations and to investigate sources.