Reported by: bne IntelIiNews VTB, the Kremlin’s second-largest bank, has announced it will launch cross-border bank transfers in Iranian rials, in direct contravention of US sanctions, Kommersantnewspaper reported on December 19. Retail and commercial account holders of VTB will be able to transfer amounts of up to $300,000 (RUB20mn) in an equivalent rial (IRR) amounts. According to the […]
Reported by: Thomas Brewster A methamphetamine and cocaine gang operating across the U.S., Mexico, Europe and Australia used the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange Binance to launder tens of millions in drug proceeds, according to an ongoing investigation by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Between $15 and $40 million in illicit proceeds may have been funneled […]
Reported by: Stacey Ritzen Despite widespread mockery of the internet and disdain from his own supporters, Donald Trump supposedly sold out of his heavily-maligned NFT digital trading cards in just 12 hours. But could the 45th president be laughing all the way to the bank — or more accurately, offshore bank accounts? That’s what one TikTok user is […]
Reported by: Edward Helmore Almost 14 years to the day since Madoff was arrested and charged with fraud in New York for orchestrating a long-running pyramid scheme, the FTX crypto scandal is being compared to Madoff’s criminal enterprise. Diana Henriques, a financial historian and the author of The Wizard of Lies, a book delving into […]
Reported by: Vanessa Buschschlüter Claudia Díaz, 49, is the latest former high-ranking Venezuelan official to be convicted of corruption in the US. Her predecessor as treasurer, Alejandro Andrade, was a star witness in her trial. Andrade testified in court that Claudia Díaz continued that illicit scheme when she was put in charge of Venezuela’s treasury […]
Reported by: Dylan Tokar The U.S. Treasury Department has proposed giving both banks and law-enforcement officials varying degrees of access to a sprawling new database of corporate-ownership information as part of an effort to stop criminals and terrorists from using anonymous shell companies to hide dirty money. The proposal, issued by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes […]
Reported by: U.S. Department of Justice Danske Bank A/S (Danske Bank), a global financial institution headquartered in Denmark, pleaded guilty today and agreed to forfeit $2 billion to resolve the United States’ investigation into Danske Bank’s fraud on U.S. banks. According to court documents, Danske Bank defrauded U.S. banks regarding Danske Bank Estonia’s customers and […]
Reported by: Matt Egan, CNN As federal prosecutors seek to imprison former crypto darling Sam Bankman-Fried, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is attempting to push through Congress a bipartisan crackdown on money laundering in the crypto industry. The Massachusetts Democrat is teaming up with Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas to introduce new legislation on Wednesday that […]
Reported by: U.S. Department of Justice A federal grand jury in Manhattan returned an indictment today charging Samuel Bankman-Fried, aka SBF, 30, of Stanford, California, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election […]
Reported by: SEBASTIAN SINCLAIR Chinese authorities say they’ve arrested 63 people in a self-styled “thunder attack” on a money laundering gang suspected of washing more than $1.7 billion via crypto. In a coordinated bust, the Horqin branch of the Tongliao Public Security Bureau in northeastern China dispatched more than 200 police across 17 provinces and […]
Financial Crime News Briefs 