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🎙️ New Podcast Drop! Fighting Financial Crime with Digital Identity Innovations – Coercive Capital with Elaine Dezenski

🎯 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

🌎 Prosecutors seek 15-year sentence for disgraced former NJ Senator Menendez Fox

🌎 The secret life of a legendary hacker who received a rare presidential pardon Semafor

🌎 Downfall of Dark Bank, the organized crime ‘banker’ who helped launder over €1B Le Monde

🌎 Night Falls in Venezuela Free Press

CHINA & RUSSIA

💥 Putin’s passport trap: The Cubans caught in Moscow’s endless war Politico

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

💥 Russian nationals arrested by U.S., ran crypto mixers Blender and Sinbad Record

💥 Tougher U.S. sanctions to curb Russian oil supply to China and India Reuters

💥 China allows Iran to begin shipping oil from storage Iran Intl

💥 Zambia’s SEC sanctions Standard Chartered over China property bond mis-selling Reuters

💥 Germany tows disabled Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker adrift in Baltic Sea CNN

💥 Gazprom Neft given 45 days to exit ownership of Serbia’s NIS Reuters

CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

💸 Professional athletes’ homes are still getting broken into. Here’s how the FBI says the thieves operate. CNN

💸 Corruption Scandals In Argentina Link Milei, Cristina Kirchner And Mauricio Macri Forbes

💸 The Mafia’s Grip on a Brazilian Lottery Seemed Invincible. Until the Apps Came. NYT

💸 Italy releases Iranian citizen held on a US warrant over drone attack in Jordan AP

CRYPTO & CYBER

🔐 A company that tracks and sells Americans’ location data has seemingly been hacked NBC

🔐 Mango Markets shuts down following SEC settlement Cointelegraph

🔐 Cybercrime Damages Highlight Need for Scalable Decentralized Infrastructure CoinDesk

🔐 Do Kwon’s Terra Trial Set for 2026 – Here’s What You Need to Know Decrypt

🔐 Singapore labels Polymarket illegal gambling, restricts site access DLN

🔐 New York sues to recover $2M in crypto stolen in remote job scams Record

🔐 Razzlekhan spits her final bars before serving Bitfinex money laundering sentence DLN

 


ILLICIT EDGE PODCASTS

🎙 Designated with Yaya Jata Fanusie

🎙 Coercive Capital with Elaine Dezenski

 


VIDEOS

 


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

🎯 Yakuza leader admits trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar.  Takeshi Ebisawa tried to sell uranium and weapons-grade plutonium to a faux Iranian general who wanted them for nuclear weapons. CNN 

🌎 Britain plans new sanctions laws to target people-smuggling gangs Reuters

🌎 Orbán’s Key Minister Hit by U.S. Magnitsky Sanctions CEPA

🌎 Scams, crashes and calamity: Departing Wall Street regulator warns of crypto risks Politico

🌎 UBS Close to Large Settlement Over Credit Suisse Tax Case Reuters

🌎 China’s DeepSeek Shows Why Trump’s Trade War Will Be Hard to Win Bloomberg

🌎 Russia’s Economic Gamble: The Hidden Costs of War-Driven Growth MT

🌎 House passes International Criminal Court sanctions bill in response to Netanyahu warrant CNN

🌎 The UK Grooming Gangs and the Cowardice of the West Free Press 

🌎 Bayview Asset Management Enters Into $20M Cyber Settlement WSJ

🌎 Nicolás Maduro is set to be Venezuela’s president until 2031 AP

🌎 Far-right group Blood and Honour has assets frozen by government BBC

🌎 A Day in the Life of a Prolific Voice Phishing Crew Krebs

🌎 What to Know About BRICS and Its Growing Clout Bloomberg

🎯 U.S. transfers $50M in forfeited assets to Estonia for help in Danske Bank prosecution.  Danske pleaded guilty in late 2022 to bank fraud conspiracy, forfeiting $2B to settle the U.S. investigation. Reuters 

🌎 U.S. determines Sudan’s RSF committed genocide, imposes sanctions on leader AP

🔥 POD: Mapping Illicit Business Networks With Varun Vira DESIGNATED

🌎 How Iran Moves Sanctioned Oil Around the World Reuters

🌎 Iran reports progress on accessing frozen assets despite sanctions Iran International

🌎 The Pentagon Says Tech Giant Tencent Is a Chinese Military Company. Its Founder Helps Yale ‘Form New Partnerships’ in China. Free Beacon

🌎 China’s Shandong Port, entry point for most sanctioned oil, bans US-designated vessels Reuters

🌎 Ted Farnsworth, Architect of Failed MoviePass Plan, Pleads Guilty to Fraud Variety

🌎 Chinese Actor Suspected to Have Been Lured into Myanmar Scam Center Found Bloomberg

🌎 Pig butchering victim sues banks for allowing scammers to open accounts Record

🔥 POD: Uncovering Pig Butchering with Erin West DESIGNATED

🌎 U.S. imposes sanctions on senior Hungarian government minister Guardian

🌎 Bitcoin Investor Ordered to Reveal Access Codes to $124M Bloomberg

🌎 CoinSwitch launches $70M recovery fund for WazirX hack victims Cointelegraph

🌎 BlackRock may exit woke business climate group Net Zero Alliance NYP

🌎 Why Credit Suisse Was a Magnet for Scandals Bloomberg

🌎 How an FBI Sting Stopped a Russian Smuggler but Not His Hong Kong Supply Route WSJ

🌎 How Biden Allowed Iran To Rake in Illicit Oil Cash Amid Tehran’s Terror Spree Free Beacon

🌎 Computers of Senior U.S. Treasury Leaders Accessed in Hack Bloomberg

🌎 U.S. sanctions prominent Chinese cyber company for role in Flax Typhoon attacks Record

CHINA

🇨🇳 How China Is Advancing in AI Despite U.S. Chip Restrictions Time

🇨🇳 Supreme Court to hear fight over looming U.S. ban on TikTok Reuters

🇨🇳 White House Rushes to Finish Cyber Order After China Hacks Bloomberg

🇨🇳 China Vows to Deepen Graft Fight in Areas Like Finance, Energy Bloomberg

RUSSIA

🇷🇺 Biden set to push new Russia sanctions before Trump era begins Reuters

🇷🇺 U.S. seizes luxury Miami condos linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch UPI

🇷🇺 Japan imposes new sanctions on Russia AP

🇷🇺 Montreal man sentenced in U.S. for exporting weapon components to Russia CBC

🇷🇺 European imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia at ‘record levels’ Guardian

 

CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME 

💸 Nigeria, US sign deal to return $52.88M in assets forfeited by ex-official Reuters

💸 Ex-FBI informant who made up Ukraine bribery story about Biden gets 6 years in prison Fortune

💸 France Indicts Founder of Notorious Website Used in Pelicot Rape Case Guardian

💸 INTERPOL publishes first Silver Notice targeting criminal assets Interpol

CRYPTO & CYBER

🔐 Russia seizes $10M in Bitcoin from ex-official in bribery case Cointelegraph

🔐 The School Shootings Were Fake. The Terror Was Real. Wired

🔐 Coinbase Receives CFTC Subpoena for Customer Data Related to Polymarket Decrypt

🔐 PowerSchool says hackers stole students’ sensitive data, including Social Security numbers TC

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TRAFFICKING

🚚 Ruthless Mexican cartel threatens to kill famed singer CBS

🚚 Outgoing ICE director says Biden ‘absolutely’ should have acted sooner to tighten the border NBC

🚚 Sheinbaum’s Support Slips as Mexicans Decry Crime and Corruption Bloomberg

 


ILLICIT EDGE INSIGHTS

📌 China’s Oppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang

📌 How Are U.S. Financial Sanctions Developed?

📌 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

 


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)

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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Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Federal Trade Commission

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HM Treasury

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Interpol

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