Reported by the Economist (Summary featured below. To read full report, go to: https://www.economist.com/international/2025/11/20/how-chinese-underground-banks-became-the-worlds-biggest-money-launderers) How Chinese Underground Banks Quietly Took Over Global Money Laundering Chinese underground banking networks have rapidly become the world’s most powerful money-laundering engines, eclipsing older criminal systems with unmatched scale, speed, and efficiency. Once known for dominating legal industries like steel […]

Reported by Ronny Reyes (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://nypost.com/2025/11/30/us-news/trump-told-maduro-in-call-he-must-leave-venezuela-in-order-to-save-himself-and-his-family-report/) President Trump gave Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro a chance to escape the country with his life — but he had to do it immediately, according to a bombshell report. During a call between Trump  and Maduro last week, the South American […]

Reported by Dov Lieber, Omar Abdel-Baqui, and Summer Said (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iranian-funds-for-hezbollah-are-flowing-through-dubai/ar-AA1RhOsg) Iran has sent the Lebanese militia Hezbollah hundreds of millions of dollars over the past year via money exchanges and other businesses in Dubai, as Tehran seeks new ways to funnel money to its ally, people […]

Reported by Cassandra Cross and Thomas J. Holt (Summary version featured below. To read full report, go to: https://www.wsj.com/tech/cybersecurity/data-breach-victims-0b01a5ab?mod=mhp) A new study highlights a side of data breaches that is often overlooked: the profound emotional and physical toll on victims. While companies typically respond to breaches by urging customers to change passwords, offering credit monitoring, and […]

Reported by U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) (Summary presented below. To read full report, go to: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0320) The U.S. Treasury announced sweeping sanctions against former Canadian Olympian Ryan James Wedding, describing him as the leader of a violent, transnational cocaine-trafficking organization. According to Treasury officials, Wedding’s network is responsible […]

Reported by PYMNTS (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.pymnts.com/bank-regulation/2025/occ-ends-money-laundering-data-collection-requirements-for-community-banks) The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency(OCC) issued two bulletins that it said will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance while reducing unnecessary regulatory burden on community banks. In one bulletin, the OCC clarified the examination […]

Reported by Rob Copeland, Stacy Cowley,  and Devlin Barrett (Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/business/bank-data-hack.html) Some of the nation’s biggest banks were scrambling on Saturday night to assess the fallout from a large-scale hack of a vendor whose compromise could expose sensitive customer data. The vendor, SitusAMC, has been deployed by hundreds […]

Reported by José de Córdoba (Summary featured below. To read full report, go to: https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/the-web-of-venezuelan-generals-accused-of-fueling-the-cocaine-trade-8bb251db?mod=mhp) For more than twenty years, U.S. and Colombian officials say a diffuse network of Venezuelan generals and senior officials has played a central role in moving thousands of tons of Colombian cocaine through Venezuela and onward to the U.S., Europe, […]

Reported by U.S. Attorney’s Office (Summary featured below. To ready full report and Indictment, go to: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/founder-chicago-cryptocurrency-company-indicted-alleged-10-million-money-laundering and https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/media/1418781/dl?inline) Federal prosecutors have indicted Firas Isa, the 36-year-old founder and CEO of the Chicago-based cryptocurrency company Virtual Assets LLC (also known as Crypto Dispensers), for allegedly participating in a scheme to launder more than $10 million […]

Reported by Sven Stumbauer (Summary shared below. To read full report, go to: https://internationalbanker.com/banking/a-new-wave-of-global-anti-money-laundering-enforcement-has-arrived-are-you-prepared/) There’s a dramatic shift underway in the world of anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement, as highlighted in a recent International Banker analysis. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently imposed landmark sanctions on three Mexican financial institutions—CIBanco, Intercam Banco, and Vector—linking them […]