Reported by: NORMAN SILVESTER A vodka firm said to be a front for an international money laundering gang is on the verge of collapse. Nero Drinks Company was formed by 47-year-old Nicola Morrissey in March 2018 to manufacture the “premium” Nero Vodka brand. Last September both Nicola, from Glasgow, and her Liverpool-born husband Johnny Morrissey, 62, […]
Reported by: ANDY GREENBERG For years, the cryptocurrency economy has been rife with black market sales, theft, ransomware, and money laundering—despite the strange fact that in that economy, practically every transaction is written into a blockchain’s permanent, unchangeable ledger. But new evidence suggests that years of advancements in blockchain tracing and crackdowns on that illicit […]
Reported by: OLA WESTERBERG A Swedish court cleared on Wednesday Swedbank’s former CEO Birgitte Bonnesen of playing down the bank’s inadequate prevention of massive money-laundering through its operations in the Baltic states. Chief Judge Malou Lindblom speaks with reporters following the verdict delivery. (Photo: Ola Westerberg, OCCRP) In the highly unusual case, Bonnesen was charged […]
Reported by: Michael Schwirtz and Maria Varenikova Several top Ukrainian officials were fired on Tuesday amid a ballooning corruption scandal, in the biggest upheaval in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government since Russia’s invasion began 11 months ago. Ukraine’s cabinet ministry, which announced the firings, provided no reasons for them, but they followed a number of allegations […]
Reported by: Loop Cayman News During a Select Committee hearing last week, Derek Byrne, the Commissioner of Police of the Cayman Islands, made a startling revelation that “illicit proceeds of illegal gambling in the Cayman Islands are somewhere between thirty million and fifty million Cayman dollars per annum” and that “illegal gambling is an organized […]
Reported by: Benjamin Weiser and William K. Rashbaum A former senior F.B.I. official who oversaw some of its most secret and sensitivecounterintelligence investigations in New York was accused on Monday of taking money from a former Albanian intelligence employee and from a representative of a Russian oligarch. The charges against the former official, Charles F. McGonigal, […]
Reported by: Prashant Jha Insider trading has become a burning topic in the crypto ecosystem, especially in light of the recent conviction of an ex-Coinbase manager’s brother. The insider trading charges were believed to be the first involving cryptocurrency, and now another set of wallet addresses with transaction history linked to Binance listings has raised suspicion. […]
Reported by: Faith Karimi, CNN Ruja Ignatova strode onto the stage in a flowing burgundy ball gown adorned with black sparkles. Beams of light flashed, fireballs erupted and Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” blared through the speakers. “Looks like a girl, but she’s a flame. So bright, she can burn your eyes — better look […]
Reported by: Thomas Barrabi A fugitive charged over an alleged market manipulation scheme in which a small New Jersey deli mysteriously drew a $100 million valuation was arrested last week in Thailand, the feds confirmed Thursday. Peter Coker Jr., 54, had been on the lam since last September, when prosecutors slapped him, his father, Peter Coker Sr., […]
Reported by: Rohan Goswami and MacKenzie Sigalos Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against a little-known crypto exchange called Bitzlato on Wednesday, alleging that it facilitated the laundering of $700 million in tainted crypto tied to the now-shuttered dark-web market Hydra, and millions more in ransomware proceeds. Blockchain data shows that tens of millions of dollars that passed […]
Financial Crime News Briefs 