Reported by Valeriya Safronova As people in much of the world flocked to see Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film “Barbie” this summer, viewers in Russia were left out. At least officially. Along with other studios, Warner Bros., the producer of “Barbie,” stopped releasing movies in Russia shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February […]
Reported by Richard Kemp Don’t imagine this is just an unprovoked, brutal attack by a bunch of terrorists from Gaza. It is much more than that. The hands that pushed these killers forward are in Moscow. US President Joe Biden and European leaders have long feared an escalation of the Ukraine war and that is […]
Reported by Jane Dalton Billionaire co-founder and chief executive of Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Bernand Arnault, is being investigated over his links to a Russian oligarch. Prosecutors in Paris are investigating financial transactions involving the French tycoon – the world’s second richest man – and businessman Nikolai Sarkisov. The inquiry is centred on property purchases in […]
Reported by Eve Sampson Criminal networks in Europe are increasingly mixing illicit finances with seemingly legal businesses, and exploiting new technology to grow their operations and launder money faster than authorities can keep up, a new Europol report revealed. Nearly 70% of criminal elements operating in the European Union use money-laundering techniques to garner revenue […]
Reported by Henry Foy Russia is using Chinese currency for at least a fifth of its imports, a new study has found, illustrating both Moscow’s increasing reliance on Beijing and its efforts to evade western sanctions. Context: Sanctions imposed on Moscow by the EU, US and others as a result of its war against Ukraine have made […]
Reported by Polygraph.info MTS, Russia’s largest communications provider, had presented in its Moscow store Apple’s new iPhone 15 that day – 24 hours before the start of global sales. MTS (short for Mobile TeleSystems) operatesin Russia, Belarus and Armenia providing telecommunications services to some 80 million subscribers. In July 2022 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission delisted it […]
Reported by Nick Oberheiden Financial institutions and companies that are subject to oversight from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) need to prioritize compliance. OFAC has become increasingly active in recent years, and it is devoting substantial government resources to identifying illicit activity and pursuing enforcement action against institutions and companies that engage in […]
Reported by Eddie Spence Russia became the United Arab Emirates’ top source of gold last year after Western countries imposed sanctions on supplies following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. The UAE last year imported 96.4 tons of gold from Russia, more than any other country, according to the United Nations’ Comtrade database. That’s roughly a […]
Reported by Michelle Graff Two diamond companies and a Wagner Group official in the Central African Republic with ties to the gold trade are among the entities included in the latest round of Russian sanctions. In a member alert issued last week, the Jewelers Vigilance Committee noted that two more diamond companies are among the […]
Reported by EMMA BURROWS The United States said Thursday that it was sanctioning more than 150 businesses and people from Russia to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Georgia to try to crack down on evasion and deny the Kremlin access to technology, money and financial channels that fuel President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. The […]
Financial Crime News Briefs 