Reported by Dearbail Jordan and Jemma Crew (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20199qzj9o) Deutsche Bank’s offices in Frankfurt and Berlin have been raided by officials as part of an inquiry into money laundering. In a statement, the Office of the Federal Prosecutor said it was conducting an investigation, involving the Federal […]

Reported by Elizabeth Howcroft (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/crypto-money-laundering-hit-82-billion-2025-researchers-say-2026-01-27/) Money launderers received at least $82 billion in cryptocurrencies last year, up sharply from $10 billion in 2020, driven in part by fast growth among Chinese-speaking groups, blockchain researchers said on Tuesday. The fastest-growing ‌category has been Chinese-language money-laundering networks, which […]

Reported by Steve Weisman (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveweisman/2026/01/25/from-mailbox-to-bank-fraud-check-theft-is-surging-and-how-to-stop-it/) While the crime may seem like something from another era, mail theft is big business. Financial‑crime analysts at the Treasury Department’s FINCEN estimate check fraud accounted for about $21 billion dollars in losses during 2023 with a substantial portion of that amount originating […]

Reported by NVIDIA (Summary shared below. To read full report, go to: https://resources.nvidia.com/en-us-2026-fsi-survey/finance-state-of-ai-report?mkt_tok=MTU2LU9GTi03NDIAAAGfkbLI9CunWi8aUHvIdIerIMHZj5K3s9PuNBVZOWZpyJVO7NU2bEMhbIgQ6-1555mXIhYM8E-0nTRKQ04ls-FztTSbaMSBde3oFrhYpCySQNto4NRI0YM-Rw) The State of AI in Financial Services: 2026 Trends survey shows that adoption of artificial intelligence in financial services is accelerating rapidly, moving well beyond experimental pilots into production use. Based on responses from more than 800 financial services professionals, 65% of […]

Reported by Christina Goldbaum (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/world/americas/hezbollah-venezuela-ties.html) How did Hezbollah get involved in Venezuela? Hezbollah’s connection stemmed from the relationship between Venezuela and Iran. Two oil-rich countries under American sanctions, they were bound by anti-American ideology and helped each other evade U.S. sanctions. Iran and Venezuela have maintained economic […]

Reported by Anas Hassan (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://cryptonews.com/news/bipartisan-push-to-remove-developer-safeguards-from-market-structure-bill/) Senate Judiciary leaders Chuck Grassley and senators have warned that a provision in Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott’s crypto bill could curtail law enforcement’s ability to prosecute money laundering and other illicit financial crimes. The provision would exempt certain blockchain software […]

Reported by U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia (originally published via https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/venezuelan-national-charged-laundering-approximately-billion-dollars-illicit-funds) A Venezuelan national has been charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia with conspiracy to launder money. “This case involves the alleged laundering approximately a billion dollars – a scale of criminal conduct that poses a profound threat to […]

Reported by Chris Newlands (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.thebanker.com/content/232f9b4b-aca5-4844-a68c-2a5ac06547a0) Shares in Swedbank jumped to an all-time high when markets opened on Thursday after the US Department of Justice closed a money-laundering probe into the bank without enforcement. The Swedish bank has been under investigation by various US authorities over its alleged failure […]

Reported by Kelly Phillips Erb (Summary shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2026/01/14/treasury-turns-a-little-known-financial-weapon-on-minnesota-benefits-fraud/) The U.S. Department of the Treasury has launched an aggressive federal response to alleged government benefits fraud in Minnesota, using a rarely used anti-money-laundering tool to enhance financial transparency and investigations. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that, beginning February 12 […]

Reported by Tico Times (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://ticotimes.net/2026/01/12/trial-begins-in-panama-over-alleged-odebrecht-bribe-laundering) Former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli, now in asylum in Colombia, and around 20 other defendants went on trial Monday in Panama on accusations of money laundering linked to bribes paid by Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Odebrecht pleaded guilty in 2016 in a U.S. […]