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🔥 Check out the latest episode of DESIGNATED with Yaya Jata Fanusie: Defending the Whistleblower

🎯 Cash App Owner to Pay $80M Over Anti-Money-Laundering Deficiencies.  A number of state regulators entered into a coordinated settlement with Block, the Jack Dorsey-led Cash App parent company. WSJ

🌎 Judge orders BitMEX to pay $100M fine over U.S. banking law violations Cointelegraph

🌎 Chinese hackers accessed thousands of Treasury files, including Yellen’s Politico

🌎 Feds seize over $21M from dead Miami man accused of corrupt dealings with Venezuela MH 

🎙️ Did you know that Venezuela’s president is a narco-terrorist? Illicit Edge

🌎 Trump Team Readies Oil Sanctions Plan for Russia Deal, Iran Squeeze Bloomberg

🎙️ What should the Trump sanctions regime look like? Illicit Edge

🌎 Spy vs. AI: How Artificial Intelligence Will Remake Espionage Foreign Affairs

🌎 Biotech Battlefield: Weaponizing Innovation in the Age of Genomics FDD

📕 Featured Report: Huione: the company behind the largest ever illicit online marketplace has launched a stablecoin Elliptic

🌎 Drug smugglers used planes, trains, US mail to sneak Mexican cartel drugs to Indianapolis streets CBS

🎙️ How cartels move funds without detection Illicit Edge

🌎 Mexican cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in plea talks with U.S. CBS

🌎 Toyota agrees to $1.6B settlement of U.S. emissions fraud case CBS

🌎 Ransomware sanctions, software security among key points in new Biden executive order Record

🌎 U.S. to impose sanctions on Sudanese army chief Burhan Reuters

🎙️ The fight for power and money in Sudan? Illicit Edge

🌎 Treasury Targets IT Worker Network Generating Revenue for DPRK Weapons Programs U.S. Treasury

🌎 I Joined TikTok Refugees on RedNote. Here’s What It’s Like. Free Press

CHINA

🇨🇳 U.S. Further Tightens Chip Restrictions, Adds Chinese Firms to Blacklist WSJ

🇨🇳 Chinese citizens stand trial for fentanyl-related charges in landmark US case CNN

🇨🇳 Chinese tech firm founded by Huawei veterans in the FBI’s crosshairs Reuters

🇨🇳 China imposes provisional duties on US, EU, Japan, Taiwan industrial plastics Reuters

🇨🇳 China urges ASEAN states to fight cross-border crimes in show of new urgency Reuters

🇨🇳 China probes US chip subsidies over ‘harm’ to Chinese mature node chipmakers Reuters

RUSSIA

🇷🇺 Putin Allies Scramble as Russians Fret Losing All Their Money Newsweek

🇷🇺 Tanker under US sanctions discharges oil at Chinese port Reuters

🇷🇺 Trump’s Treasury pick Bessent calls for stronger sanctions on Russia Reuters

🇷🇺 U.S. steps up Russia sanctions, placing threat of more sanctions on businesses partnering with Russia AP

🇷🇺 U.S. issues sanctions to combat Russian sanctions-evasion scheme UPI

CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

💸 LAFD team tasked with preventing wildfires accused of corruption before blazes devastated city NYP

💸 Inside Biden’s Billion-Dollar Broadband Boondoggle Free Press

💸 Kyrgyz lender Keremet Bank to appeal after being hit with US sanctions Reuters

💸 Former German Lawmakers on Trial Over Bribes From Azerbaijan OCCRP

💸 Cooper announces ‘rapid national audit’ into grooming gangs BBC

💸 Philippines Could Pursue 2M Euros Alleged Crime Boss Stashed in Cyprus OCCRP

CRYPTO & CYBER

🔐 PowerSchool data breach victims say hackers stole ‘all’ historical student and teacher data TC

🔐 Upbit, South Korea’s Largest Crypto Exchange, May Face Sanctions CoinDesk

🔐 UnitedHealth hid its Change Healthcare data breach notice for months TC

🔐 U.S. Prosecutors Ask Court to Green-Light Return of 95,000 Stolen Bitcoin to Bitfinex CoinDesk

 


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🎙 Coercive Capital with Elaine Dezenski

 


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INFLUENCERS

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

 


RESOURCES

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 /

 


IN OTHER NEWS

🎯 French Woman Says AI Brad Pitt Scammed Her Out of $850K.  The scammers used fake, AI-generated photos of the megastar that led the French woman to believe she was communicating with the real Brad Pitt. Hollywood Reporter

💰 What is Pig Butchering? Illicit Edge

🌎 Binance.US Chief: The SEC Called Us a Cauldron of Fraud, Without Any Evidence CoinDesk

🌎 A Spymaster Sheikh Controls a $1.5 Trillion Fortune. He Wants to Use It to Dominate AI. Wired

🌎 Cookies, Cocktails and Mushrooms on the Menu as Justices Hear Bank Fraud Case NYT

🌎 U.S. encounters European skepticism in last-ditch push to seize $300B in Russian assets CNN

🌎 Taiwan’s spy agency says China is working with gangs, shell companies to gain intelligence AP

🌎 A kidnapped Chinese actor, a scam gang, and a very public rescue operation Guardian

🌎 Former Wells Fargo Executives Fined for Role in Fraudulent Bank Accounts WSJ

🌎 Trump says he will create an ‘External Revenue Service’ agency to collect tariff income AP

🌎 SEC charges Robinhood with securities violations, brokerage to pay $45M penalty CNBC

🌎 Wall Street Fraudsters’ Sentences Bake in Risk of Future Crimes Bloomberg

🌎 Dogged By Debts, Disputes, And Divorce, A Russian Oligarch Also Draws FBI Scrutiny RFE

🌎 Biden moves to lift state sponsor of terrorism designation for Cuba AP

🌎 Capital One sued by U.S. CFPB for avoiding billions in interest payments Reuters

🌎 Virginia AG Miyares Ratchets Up Investigation Into American Muslims for Palestine Free Beacon

🎯 Hamas Has Another Sinwar. And He’s Rebuilding. Under Yahya Sinwar’s younger brother, Hamas is recruiting new fighters in Gaza, drawing Israel into a war of attrition. WSJ

🌎 U.S. tightens its grip on AI chip flows across the globe Reuters

🌎 Top Asian Oil Buyers in Turmoil as U.S. Ratchets Up Sanctions Bloomberg

🌎 Germany’s Baerbock cautions on Syria as EU signals sanctions relief Politico

🌎 The truth behind your £10 dress: Inside the Chinese factories fueling Shein’s success BBC

🌎 Federal agents find sophisticated ‘narco tunnel’ allowing cartels to sneak drugs – and humans – across the border NYP

🌎 FinCEN Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate Law Requiring Ownership Information WSJ

🌎 U.S. Supreme Court appears inclined to uphold TikTok ban-or-sale law Semafor

🌎 Biden admin delays enforcement of order blocking Nippon Steel, U.S. Steel deal Reuters

CHINA

🇨🇳 U.S. Bans Imports From Dozens Of Chinese Firms On ‘Forced Labor’ AFP

🇨🇳 Chinese company pleads guilty to stealing trade secrets from Motorola CBS

🇨🇳 Chinese TikTok alternative RedNote tops app charts ahead of potential TikTok ban NBC

🇨🇳 Mexico Plans Nearshoring Incentives to Curb China Imports Bloomberg

🇨🇳 U.S. probe finds China unfairly dominates shipbuilding, paving way for penalties Reuters

🇨🇳 Europe Accuses China of Unfairly Blocking EU Companies WSJ

🇨🇳 EU weighs curbs on Chinese medical device makers in public bids Reuters

RUSSIA

🇷🇺 LVMH says ‘impossible’ to control final sales point after report of champagne shipments to Russia Reuters

🇷🇺 Oil tycoon Shvidler says UK sanctions are arbitrary in landmark appeal Reuters

🇷🇺 SLB under pressure to exit Russia after Biden administration widens sanctions Seeking Alpha

🇷🇺 Russian LNG Shipment Lands in Spain After New US Sanctions Bloomberg

🇷🇺 Russian crude oil piles up near Chinese coast after U.S. sanctions Bloomberg

🇷🇺 U.S. sanctions: Russia’s Arctic oil feels the chill Reuters

CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

💸 Former Wamco Executive Said Star Investor’s Suspicious Trades Go Back a Decade WSJ

💸 U.S. sues KKR for allegedly avoiding antitrust scrutiny Reuters

💸 Four Indicted In Conspiracy To Commit Bank Fraud Involving $128M In Criminal Proceeds DOJ

💸 Venezuela AG requests Interpol red notice for opposition’s Leopoldo Lopez Reuters

💸 UK anti-corruption minister resigns over ties to ousted Bangladesh PM Reuters

💸 Engineer could flee to Iran to avoid drone strike trial Reuters

CRYPTO & CYBER

🔐 Biden administration looks to penalize Salt Typhoon telecom hackers WaPo

🔐 U.S. issues final rule barring Chinese, Russian connected car tech Record

🔐 Crypto firm Tether and its founders finalizing move to El Salvador Cointelegraph

🔐 North Korea stole over $659M in crypto heists during 2024, deployed fake job seekers TC

🔐 The FBI Says It Made Malware Delete Itself From American’s Computers Gizmodo 

🔐 UK plans to ban public sector organizations from paying ransomware hackers TC

TRAFFICKING

🚚 Two California Men Who Supplied Fentanyl Sold to Darknet Customers Sentenced to Prison DOJ

🚚 Kenneth fire ‘person of interest’ is a convicted felon and entered country illegally LAT

🚚 5 killed in Mexican town caught between battling criminal groups AP

 


COMPLIANCE TOOLBOX

🔑 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

Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

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Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

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State Department

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Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

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Department of Justice

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Commerce Department

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Securities and Exchange Commission

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Federal Bureau of Investigation

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Federal Trade Commission

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HM Treasury

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Interpol

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