Reported by Mark Galeotti When personal sanctions on Russian oligarchs and officials were imposed by the UK, US and EU after Putin’s invasion, the rationale was that this would undermine the Kremlin. In the main, this has failed – and there is still no coherent strategy to encourage those Russians willing to turn against the regime. Wider economic sanctions are slowly […]
Reported by Nabila Ahmed, Adam Haigh, Ainsley Thomson, and Ellie Harmsworth Computer-generated children’s voices so realistic they fool their own parents. Masks created with photos from social media that can penetrate a system protected by face ID. They sound like the stuff of science fiction, but these techniques are already available to criminals preying on everyday […]
Reported by Rocio Fabbro Goldman Sachs agreed to pay Malaysia $3.9 billion in July 2020 to settle a money laundering scheme involving its bankers, Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says it wasn’t enough. In 2018, Malaysian prosecutors sued the investment bank, accusing bankers of helping to raise billions of dollars for 1Malaysia Development Berhad, […]
Reported by Jared Malsin Istanbul — In a gray four-story office building above a nightclub with a black door here, a company founded by a Turkish sock and underwear magnate has transformed into one of the world’s largest shipowners transporting Russian oil. The firm, Beks Ship Management, has bought 37 ships since 2021, many of […]
Reported by Shawkat Hossain Singapore is dubbed ‘Asia’s business district’. It has also earned the dubious epithet of a ‘tax haven’. Singapore tops the choice list of many money launderers to stash their illegal money. That Singapore, for many of these launderers, is behaving a bit strangely. Many feel Singapore is no more a place […]
Reported by Saabira Chaudhuri The owner of Peet’s Coffee is making a series of changes to its business to keep selling in Russia, offering a rare example of how some companies are charting a new normal as the Ukraine war rages on. JDE Peet’s is renaming a major coffee brand in an effort to protect […]
Reported by GABRIELLE HERZIG According to a new excerpt of Billy Walters’s autobiography, Gambler: Secrets From a Life at Risk, Walters writes that Phil Mickelson not only escaped the insider trading investigations that ultimately put Walters in prison, but also a separate money-laundering probe that originated in the spring of 2010. In an excerpt released last week, Walters […]
Reported by Robert Johnston Jr., Jimmy Kang, Paula Ladd, and Samantha Sigelakis-Minski (Originally appeared on JD Supra’s site) On August 1, a bipartisan bill was introduced to modify the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).1The Protect Small Businesses and Prevent Illicit Financial Activity Act (H.R. 5119)2 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Zachary Nunn, R-Iowa, […]
Reported by Huw Jones Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority said on Monday it will ask lawmakers to report any problems they have opening or maintaining a bank account ahead of a formal investigation. The review is part of a wider look at “debanking”, which recently became a political issue after former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage […]
Reported by Michelle Nichols North Korea continued developing nuclear weapons and producing nuclear fissile material in 2023 and evading United Nations sanctions that aim to cut off funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, according to an unpublished United Nations report seen by Reuters on Thursday. “After a record-breaking level of cyber thefts in […]
Financial Crime News Briefs 