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We’re thrilled to feature Ray Donovan, a 28-year DEA veteran and former Head of Operations, in the latest episode of Coercive Capital with Elaine Dezenski.
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🎯 The Middle East Drug Fueling War, Crime and All-Night Parties. Captagon is bringing big profits to Syria’s Assad regime and Hezbollah. WSJ
🚚 Houston DEA Found 80 Gallons of Liquid Meth in a Suburban Cartel Meth Lab VICE
🚚 The idyllic northeastern state being ravaged by drugs Daily Mail
🌎 Blood on their sands. Inside Saudi Arabia’s bloody £1TN Neom megaproject ‘with 21k workers mysteriously dying and laborers trapped like slaves’. Sun
🌎 Gelato Godfather: Inside the Sicilian ice cream empire built on mafia money. Holidaymakers have guzzled Sicilian gelato at famous parlors in Palermo, unaware the booming businesses were controlled by organized crime. Fortune
🌎 Why the BRICS De-Dollarization Dream Remains a Fantasy. It’s difficult to imagine a better example of how hard it is to disengage with a currency that’s dominated the global financial system. Bloomberg
🌎 How Russia’s economy grows despite thousands of Ukraine war sanctions. Countries have imposed thousands of sanctions on Russia since it launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, but more than two years later, Russia’s economy is growing. CBS
🇷🇺 Russian economy overheating, but still powering the war against Ukraine WaPo
🌎 Chinese hackers said to have collected audio of American calls. Hackers are part of a Chinese government-affiliated group dubbed Salt Typhoon. Reuters
🌎 Crypto’s ‘Too Big to Fail’ Token Tether Faces New Threat From U.S. Should OFAC add Tether to its list of SDNs, it would be devastating. Bloomberg
🌎 Balkan Criminals Planned Murders Using Encrypted Phones from Canadian Start-Up Sky Global. Sky’s most prolific resellers were Serbian criminals wreaking havoc in the Balkans. OCCRP
🌎 From Smuggling Gold Out of Africa to Bridging Bitcoin and Cardano. A longtime regular on the crypto scene learned the importance of financial sovereignty at an early age. CoinDesk
🌎 How my investigation led to sex trafficking charges against ex-Abercrombie boss. Mike Jeffries is an eccentric and superstitious genius with highlighted hair and a penchant for plastic surgery. BBC
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🇷🇺 How a Mumbai Drugmaker Is Helping Putin Get Nvidia AI Chips Bloomberg
🇷🇺 Ukraine’s bid to add Russia to FATF’s ‘black list’ fails again, rejected by China, India and others Reuters
🇷🇺 G7 vows to clamp down on Russia’s oil sanctions evasion Guardian
🇷🇺 Putin Ally Warns Most Companies in Russia Face Collapse Newsweek
🇷🇺 Europe seeks to underpin Russia sanctions, fearing Trump overhaul Reuters
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🇨🇳 China to offer Taliban tariff-free trade Reuters
🇨🇳 TSMC suspended shipments to China firm after chip found on Huawei processor Reuters
🇨🇳 CCP-linked antisemitic trolls are targeting down ballot Republicans Fox
🇨🇳 EPPO uncovers Chinese underground banking network EPPO
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💸 Antisemitism in NYC schools fueled by foreign actors, activist educators NYP
💸 Meet the Pennsylvania nuns falsely accused of voter fraud CNN
💸 Pennsylvania officials investigating 2,500 voter registrations for fraud Guardian
💸 Sophisticated heist crew traveled from West Hollywood to Seattle, stealing millions and eluding police. Mercury News
💸 Fraudsters wheel away huge haul of artisan cheddar worth an eye-popping $400,000 Fox
💸 FATF adds Lebanon to ‘gray list’ AFP
💸 Ariane Tabatabai’s links to Iran back under the microscope after US leaked Israel mission details NYP
💸 Czech cops level charges in megabucks toast EU fraud case Politico
💸 Owners of ‘horrific’ funeral home plead guilty to federal fraud charges NPR
💸 Chicago culture of corruption Chicago Trib
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🔐 EssilorLuxottica Backs Del Vecchio Heir Amid Italy Hacking Probe Bloomberg
🔐 Change Healthcare says 100M people impacted ransomware attack Record
🔐 Cybersecurity Concerns with QR Codes: Staying Safe in the Digital Age AEI
🔐 Delta sues CrowdStrike after widespread IT outage that caused thousands of cancellations CNBC
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🚚 Dallas home invasion shows Venezuelan gang threat is real DMN
🚚 Will Mexico’s plan to constitutionally ban vapes play into the hands of cartels? Guardian
🚚 The numbers behind the migrant crisis and how much cartels have profited staggering NYP
🚚 The grisly death in Chilpancingo challenges the new federal government’s pledge to fight organized crime. WSJ
🚚 Uruguay is gripped by cocaine trafficking amid elections Le Monde
🚚 Italian Camorra mafia fugitive arrested in Colombia for drug trafficking NBC
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📘 Ecuador’s Risky War on Narcos New Yorker
📘 New $72K Migrant Smuggling Routes to the U.S. Start With Charter Flights Reuters
📘 Money Laundering National Risk Assessment Singapore MAS
📘 A better anti-corruption machine Brookings
📘 Ransomware Victim Insights RUSI
📘 Standards and interoperability: The future of the global financial system Atlantic Council
📘 U.S. Foreign Extortion Prevention Act: New Tool in the Fight Against Global Corruption TI
📘 How We Uncovered the Modus Operandi of Criminals Smuggling Illegal Gold out of Venezuela Pulitzer Center
📘 Illicit Drugs Are Undermining Pacific Security USIP
📌 China’s Oppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang
📌 How Are U.S. Financial Sanctions Developed?
📌 Top 10 Ways Iran Supports and Empowers Hamas
📌 Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program: A Dangerous Evolution
📌 Top 10 Ways Money Launderers Are Caught Red-Handed
📌 What are the Top 10 Books on Corruption, Kleptocracy, and Illicit Financing?
📌 What Are 10 Ways China Is Stealing Intellectual Property?
📌 These are Mexico’s Most Powerful Drug Cartels
📌 The Hypocrisy of Labeling Terrorists as ‘Militants’
📌 Sanctions and the IRGC: How Iran’s Paramilitary Group Profits from Economic Hardship
📌 What are the Arguments For and Against ESG?
Kim Zetter / Brian Krebs / Nicole Perlroth /
Josh Rogin / Ellen Nakashima / Matt Levitt /
Clarissa Ward / Gary Kasparov / Joseph Cox / Mark Dubowitz
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya / Bill Browder / Jen Easterly /
Zack Kopplin / Laura Shin / Dmitri Alperovitch / Tom Keatinge
Catherine Belton / Nazanin Boniadi / Chris Krebs /
Kevin Hall / Farnaz Fassihi / Kevin Collier / Patrick Howell O’Neill /
Michael McFaul / Jonathan Schanzer / Catalin Cimpanu /
Liza Lin / Enes Kanter FREEDOM / Bianna Golodryga
Financial Action Task Force /
Egmont Group /
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project /
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists /
Money Laundering Watch/
C4ADS /
Combating Terrorism Center /
Royal United Services Institute /
🎙️ Conversation with an Exiled Venezuelan Opposition Leader Lawfare
🎙️ Hezbollah’s Secret Missile Cities, Russia Advances In Ukraine, & Hamas Chief Fears For Life President’s Daily Brief
🎙️ Fox News, defamation, and our new information reality Click Here
🎙️ Deep Cover: George Santos Pushkin
🎙️ Conversation with Former FATF President RUSI
🎙 ️The problem with the Nigerian economy has nothing to do with crypto Click Here
🎙 ️Crypto ATMs, a Senator Convicted, AUSTRAC Report, Timeshare Fraud, etc. AML Conversations
🎙 ️Sanctions and Russia’s Nuclear Diplomacy RUSI
🎙 ️Partnering with terrorists to fight terrorists Generation Jihad
🎙 ️Allen Stanford: The Lord of the Lies Scamfluencers
🎯 Binance’s Gambaryan Free to Leave Nigeria for Medical Treatment After Money Laundering Charges Dropped. Yuki Gambaryan illustrated the family’s ordeal through a recent podcast besides other efforts to bring attention to the case. CoinDesk
🌎 Turkey’s Halkbank Must Face U.S. Prosecution Over Iran Sanctions Charges. The state-owned lender, accused of helping Iran evade sanctions, isn’t entitled to sovereign immunity. WSJ
🌎 Seven Members of Moscow-Based Criminal Organization Plead Guilty in Over $1.7B International Telemedicine Scheme. They Billed Fraudulent Prescriptions from Over 50 Pharmacies Nationwide. DOJ
🌎 Scammers are stealing homes from under their owners’ noses. AI is making it scarily easy. Real Estate scammers operate by transferring a home’s deed away from its rightful owners. Business Insider
🌎 FinCEN Assesses $900,000 Penalty Against Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino. Lake Elsinore admitted to willful violations of the BSA, including failing to implement an effective AML program. FinCEN
🔐 Building Bridges to Tackle Pig Butchering Chainalysis
🌎 Cocaine pizza: German police take out Düsseldorf drug ring. The restaurant’s “pizza No. 40” turned out dangerously addictive. DW
🌎 A dark web drug dealer at 20, he bought luxury cars and gold-plated guns. Then he got caught. A Southern California duo face federal sentencing for selling tens of thousands of narcotics. LAT
🌎 The Secretive World of Russian Oil Tanker Insurance Revealed. An open question since Russia’s invasion has been who’s insuring the tankers moving Moscow’s petroleum. Bloomberg
🌎 Facing cash crunch, Hezbollah seeks to boost illegal drug sales in Europe. Hezbollah has plunged into a financial crisis since Israel began escalating its attacks. VOA
🚩 FinCEN Issues Alert to Financial Institutions to Counter Financing of Hizballah FinCEN
🚩 How Iran-Hamas’ deadly alliance was born — in America NYP
🚩 US charges IRGC official, others in Iran-backed plot to assassinate journalist Reuters
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🇷🇺 US to unveil new sanctions on Russia Reuters
🇷🇺 How a Russian oligarch’s $90M megayacht landed in U.S. custody WaPo
🇷🇺 Turkey blocks exports of military-linked goods to Russia after US warning Kyiv Independent
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🇨🇳 Huawei appears to still be using TSMC chips despite US sanctions Engadget
🇨🇳 TSMC says it has alerted US of potential China AI chip curbs violation Reuters
🇨🇳 ASML Chief Sees US Pushing for More China Chip Restrictions Bloomberg
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💸 Giuliani must give control of luxury items and Manhattan apartment to Georgia election workers CNN
💸 Peru ex-president Toledo jailed for 20 years over involvement in Car Wash scandal Guardian
💸 Kinahan gang boss who ran arms cache plot from prison to get lighter sentence Sky
🔑 Cryptocurrency Regulation Tracker Atlantic Council
🔑 COMTRADE: Using Trade Data to Uncover Fraud and Smuggling OCCRP
🔑 2022 Rule of Law Index World Justice Project
🔑 Global Organized Crime Index Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
🔑 Anti-Corruption Helpdesk Transparency International
🔑 Flight Intelligence for Investigators Icarus Flights, C4ADS
🔑 Global Legislative Map: Violent Extremist and Terrorist-Related Online Content Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism
🔑 Basel AML Index Map Basel Institute on Governance
🔑 Scorched Earth: Using NASA Fire Data to Monitor War Zones Bellingcat
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