Treasury Targets Russian Financial Facilitators and Sanctions Evaders Around the World

Reported by U.S. Department of the Treasury WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is further curbing Russia’s access to the international financial system through facilitators and their businesses. The United States, in coordination with the United Kingdom, is targeting the facilitation network of Alisher Usmanov, who […]

FinCEN Analyzes BEC Trends in the Real Estate Sector

Reported by Kaley Schafer of Ballard Spahr LLP On March 30, 3023, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Financial Trend Analysis focusing on business email compromise (BEC) trends and patterns in the real estate sector (referred to as “RE BEC”). The report is required under Section 6206 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA). This section […]

Swiss pharma exports to Russia soar despite sanctions

Reported by EURACTIV.com with AFP File photo. External view of the offices of Swiss medicine maker Novartis in Athens, Greece, 4 January 2017. [Alexandros Vlachos/EPA] Switzerland has matched the 10 rounds of ever-tightening sanctions imposed by the European Union since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Though Swiss trade with Russia has come […]

Inside the international sting operation to catch North Korean crypto hackers

Reported by Sean Lyngaas (CNN)A team of South Korean spies and American private investigators quietly gathered at the South Korean intelligence service in January, just days after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea.  For months, they’d been tracking $100 million stolen from a California cryptocurrency firm named Harmony, waiting for North Korean hackers to […]

US Treasury warns DeFi is being used for illicit transfers

Reported by Mathew Di Salvo The U.S. Department of the Treasury has warned of criminals using decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols but admitted that money launderers and terrorists typically prefer fiat currencies over crypto.  In its “Illicit Finance Risk Assessment of Decentralized Finance” report released today, the U.S. body said that ransomware crooks, thieves, scammers and other criminals […]