Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Re: Privacy

I respond to your questions in context below.

YOU ASKED:

Can a person or entity find out information about one's business/company. In other words if I wanted to find out whether a person owns a business/company, and if so - its name, business activity, etc.; knowing a person's full name?

I RESPOND:

In New York, the Dept. of State has records as to who is the shareholder/member of every domestic and authorized foreign (i.e., out of state) corporation and LLC; the various county clerks' offices have that info for DBAs. You can ask them (they may charge a fee for the information).

YOU ASKED:

And vice versa: knowing the name of the business to find out the owner's(shareholders') name(s)?

I RESPOND:

That may be somewhat harder; the shareholders'/members' names are less available than are the names of businesses, even though the Dept. of State, sometimes the SEC, and the county clerks do have the information and may even have it cross-referenced. You can get it with a subpoena, certainly, but I have never tried to walk into the Dept. of State or a county clerk's office and ask for it outright.

YOU ASKED:

What level of authority would one need to have to get this kind of information from IRS, or other?

I RESPOND:

See above.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.