Reported by Martin Arnold (Summary featured below. To read full report, go to: https://www.ft.com/content/46826bb8-16be-4301-a4fc-cb73231e8987) US penalties for money laundering, sanctions breaches, and related financial crimes fell sharply in 2025, with total fines dropping 61% to roughly $1.7 billion from $4.3 billion the year before. The decline coincided with a clear policy shift under President Donald […]

Reported by Jon Emont (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.wsj.com/finance/former-malaysian-leader-sentenced-to-15-years-over-multibillion-dollar-1mdb-scandal-d26fca66?mod=Searchresults&pos=6&page=1) Malaysia’s High Court sentenced former Prime Minister Najib Razak to 15 years in prison after convicting him on 25 charges of money laundering and abuse of power connected to the looting of the 1MDB sovereign-wealth fund, one of the largest financial crimes […]

Reported by Kimberley A. Strassel (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-lesson-of-minnesotas-fraud-3e66f5f0?mod=Searchresults&pos=17&page=1) Republicans in recent years were handed the gift of California, that collapsing paragon of climate virtue, an excellent argument for the GOP’s own, better energy agenda. Their Christmas present this year is Minnesota—if the party has the wits to seize […]

Reported by Ben Lucas (Summary featured below. To read full report, go to: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/london/article/shelton-street-money-laundering-5mmdjb6f6?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqfiGxVMk7sxR3kOER2PO-kE2Ure9qxBhYAemYpRf3xCYVEW8RWdBQtL&gaa_ts=694e790e&gaa_sig=bYH-p6seQsK9AmvojemZEo-xVTET2IGmKOeAMtQF_Gx_AvGlVnGPGX3Zftj-_d45JjnmIXtxg6bD6MOBspSaPw%3D%3D) The article examines how a single London address — 71–75 Shelton Street in Covent Garden — has become the registered office for more than 85,000 UK companies, raising growing concerns among law enforcement and financial-crime experts. While using a registered office […]

Reported by Albert Hadi (Summary featured below. To read full report, go to: https://smallwarsjournal.com/2025/12/24/how-criminal-networks-launder-money-out-of-the-united-states/) The essay argues that the United States is not just a destination for illicit money but a central transit and exit hub for global criminal finance. Trillions of dollars are laundered worldwide each year, and the scale, stability, and openness of […]

Reported by Zor Gorelov (Summary shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/ai-agents-are-going-to-test-the-limits-of-bank-compliance?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bank-think) Banks are confronting a new kind of “customer” that isn’t human: autonomous AI agents that check balances, move money, and make financial decisions on behalf of users. As agentic AI becomes embedded in consumer finance, traditional control frameworks built around human […]

Reported by Ariel Zilber (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://nypost.com/2025/12/22/business/judge-orders-jpmorgan-to-keep-paying-charlie-javices-74m-legal-bills/) A Delaware judge on Monday denied a bid from JPMorgan to wiggle out of $74 million in legal bills from convicted fraudster Charlie Javice — even as fresh details of lavish, bizarre spending emerged in court papers. Javice and her lawyers spent $530 […]

Reported by IRS Criminal Investigation (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/irs-ci-reveals-top-10-cases-of-2025) From tax evasion to cybercrime, IRS Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) top cases of 2025 resulted in multiyear prison sentences and multimillion dollar financial settlements, highlighting the most significant criminal sentencings of year. “Financial trails are criminals’ downfall. This year’s top 10 […]

Reported by Matt Levine (Summary version featured below. To read full report, go to: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/newsletters/2025-11-17/private-markets-are-the-new-securities-fraud?embedded-checkout=true) Matt Levine argues that two long-running realities of U.S. finance are colliding: “everything is securities fraud” and “private markets are the new public markets.” Public companies face near-automatic lawsuits whenever bad news emerges, while private companies historically avoid that exposure […]

Reported by David EnrichSteve EderJessica Silver-Greenberg and Matthew Goldstein (Summary version featured below. To read full report, go to: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/magazine/jeffrey-epstein-money-scams-investigation.html) The Times investigation traces how Jeffrey Epstein built his fortune not through financial brilliance or secret intelligence work, but through a long pattern of deception, manipulation, and exploitation of elite networks. Beginning as a college dropout teaching […]