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Bybit Hack, Crypto’s Biggest Ever, Spoils Coinbase’s SEC Victory Party. The ensuing whiplash in market prices — not to mention the moods in the crypto trading trenches – served as yet another stark reminder of the unique and ever-present risks lurking in this market. Bloomberg
SEC Replaces Crypto Enforcement Team with Smaller ‘Cyber’ Unit Bloomberg
Tens of thousands could be held in illegal scam compounds in Myanmar Guardian
🎙️ Have you ever gotten one of those text messages, out of nowhere, from a number you don’t know…? DESIGNATED
Russia could concede $300B in frozen assets as part of Ukraine war settlement Reuters
How has Russian economy dodged Western sanctions? DW
🎙️ Sanctions Diplomacy and Economic Security COERCIVE CAPITAL
Trump orders use of CFIUS to restrict Chinese investments in strategic areas Reuters
Notorious crooks broke into a company network in 48 minutes Ars
Green Berets and Reaper Drones: Trump’s Shadow War in Mexico TNR
Mexico Plans Constitutional Reforms After US Labels Cartels as Terrorists Newsweek
FATF Global Financial Crime Watchdog Removes Philippines From ‘Grey’ List Reuters
Gretchen Whitmer Forges Business Deal With Iran-Linked Emirati Sheikh Implicated in Hacking Schemes Free Beacon
U.S. Sanctions Key Ally of Rwandan President Over War in Congo Bloomberg
Why Influencers Say Honey Is Stealing Their Money WSJ
📘 Illicit Finance: Treasury’s Initial Safeguards for Allowing Access to Information on Corporate Ownership GAO
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Trump is playing a dangerous game with Russian energy Semafor
China’s London mega-embassy will put security at risk Telegraph
U.S. Treasury’s Bessent says Russia could win sanctions relief in war talks Reuters
Russia Is Unmoved by Trump’s Sanctions Threats and Offers on War Bloomberg
NSA emphasizes ‘strong defensive posture’ as it responds to report it hacked China Wash Times
How Norway Fed Russia’s War Machine Despite EU Sanctions RFE
Russian mafia money-laundering ring broken up in Spain BBC
Russia-linked fake videos spread German election fraud claims Politico
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Georgia’s richest man said to be moving funds to avoid U.S. sanctions BBC
South African Firm to Amass Bitcoin Hoard in First for Continent Bloomberg
DOGE Finds $2B in Taxpayer Funds Earmarked for Stacey Abrams-Linked Group Free Beacon
UK regulator fines four banks £100m over traders’ sharing of information Guardian
Synapse Executive Alerted Accountants Before $100M Missing Funds Scandal WSJ
New Delhi says it is looking into ‘deeply troubling’ information about USAID activities in India Reuters
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A huge trove of leaked Black Basta chat logs expose the ransomware gang’s key members and victims TC
Nigeria Sues Crypto Exchange Binance for $81.5B Following Hostage Crisis Decrypt
Stalkerware apps Cocospy and Spyic are exposing phone data of millions of people TC
SEC’s Coinbase Reversal Is Only the Latest Pro-Crypto Shift Under Trump Decrypt
SEC drops investigation into NFT marketplace OpenSea Cointelegraph
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The Case Against Designating Cartels as Terrorists WSJ
🎙️ Roughly 200 people per day, more than 75,000 Americans per year, lose their lives due to fentanyl use COERCIVE CAPITAL
Mexico reviewing request from cartel leader jailed in the US to be sent back AP
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyer steps down ahead of sex trafficking case NBC
Border Patrol sees uptick in egg smuggling on southern border amid skyrocketing prices Fox
Tri-Cities Based Drug Traffickers Caught with More Than 100,000 Fentanyl Pills, 50 Pounds of Methamphetamine, and a Kilo of Cocaine Sentenced to Federal Prison DOJ
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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 /
How Dirty Money From Fentanyl Sales Is Flowing Through China. Chinese money brokers are teaming up with Mexican cartels, greasing the wheels of the fentanyl trade. WSJ
Infamous Sinaloa Cartel is deeply entrenched in American communities Fox
CIA using drones to surveil drug cartels, labs in Mexico UPI
Rubio Says Sanctions to Stay for Now as Trump Eyes Putin Summit Bloomberg
Inside the Bloody Battle Over the DOJ’s Crown Jewel Vanity Fair
Texas judge clears way for anti-money laundering law’s enforcement Reuters
Jair Bolsonaro charged over alleged far-right coup plot to seize power in Brazil Guardian
Milei Crypto Scandal Widens With Allegations Against His Sister Bloomberg
Chokepoint 2.0: An Investigation Promises the Truth About Crypto’s Biggest Conspiracy Wired
Trump Vowed to Clean Up Washington, Then His Team Hired a Man Who Pushed a Scam the IRS Called the “Worst of the Worst” ProPublica
Taxpayer-Funded Immigration Group Works To ‘Disrupt Trump’s Deportation Machine’ Free Beacon
Art Adviser. Friend. Thief. NYT
JPMorgan set to relive ‘huge mistake’ at Javice fraud trial Fortune
Eric Adams and Equality Under the Law Free Press
Five Iraqi banks to be banned from U.S. dollar transactions. A rare ally of both the United States and Iran with more than $100B in reserves held in the U.S., Iraq relies heavily on Washington’s goodwill to ensure that its access to oil revenues and finances are not blocked. Reuters
Brazen Canadian ‘coyotes’ smuggling migrants across the northern border – even advertising on TikTok NYP
148 pounds of crystal meth found in stone landscaping pavers in North Carolina USAT
Will Trump’s Crypto Cops Still Police Fraud? This Flashy Startup Poses a Test. WSJ
Argentine lawyers charge President Milei with fraud over cryptocurrency promotion AP
UK tracks Russian ships carrying ammunition from Syria Reuters
New Sanctions for Putin’s ‘Shadow Fleet’ Are on the Horizon WSJ
Maduro Submits Constitution Reform to Reshape Venezuela Politics Bloomberg
Metals Crucial to Clean Energy Are Getting Caught Up in the US-China Trade War Wired
Lloyds Bank urged to publish Rachel Reeves’s expenses files over claims made before she left HBOS bank Daily Mail
Binance Moved Fast, Broke Things – and Paid the Price. After Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao went to prison, Richard Teng set out to show that the crypto exchange is now on its best behavior. Wired
Russia Targets Tycoons With Foreign Ties in Wartime Assets Grab Bloomberg
Trump fires USAID’s top watchdog after reports of billions wasted on educating al Qaeda terrorist NYP
DOJ announces lawsuit against New York, Hochul and state AG James over ‘sanctuary’ status ABC
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China’s Private Berths Emerge as Hotspots for Russia, Iran Oil Bloomberg
Turkey’s top refiner Tupras stops Russian crude purchases after sanctions Reuters
American arrested in Moscow on drug smuggling charges is freed ahead of Russia-US talks CNN
The (Un)Intended Consequences of Oil Sanctions Through the Dark Shipping of Sanctioned Oil AEI
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Will Donald Trump Make Money Laundering Great Again? Mother Jones
How the U.S. Government Controls Ukrainian Media Free Press
Is Al Jazeera Providing Material Support to Hamas? RCW
SEC seeks India’s help in Adani fraud probe Reuters
Ex-Guatemalan congressman gets 18 years for trafficking conspiracy AP
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AI Fake May Have Scammed Firms for Millions in FTX Claims CoinDesk
Collapsed Crypto Exchange FTX Begins Repaying Billions Decrypt
Indian Authorities Seize $190M Tied to BitConnect Scam Decrypt
DeepSeek ‘shared user data’ with TikTok owner ByteDance BBC
How Phished Data Turns into Apple & Google Wallets Krebs
Chase will start blocking Zelle payments over social media Verge
VC giant Insight Partners confirms January cyberattack TechCrunch
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The New War on Drugs Foreign Affairs
Homeland Security budgets $200M for new border ad campaign Semafor
Mexico announces major meth seizure in cartel heartland amid pressure from Trump CBS
Judge accused of trafficking woman to UK ‘told police she had diplomatic immunity’ Independent
Endangered spider monkeys settle in at Brookfield Zoo Chicago after rescue from wildlife trafficking CST
Thousands of DHS agents shift to deportation instead of drugs, weapons and human trafficking USAT
Mexico threatens to escalate U.S. gunmakers lawsuit with terror charges Guardian
Prominent Miami defense lawyer charged in DEA bribery scheme AP
🔑 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