Month: September 2025

Peru’s Ex-President Sentenced Amid Sweeping Odebrecht Scandal

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
A Peruvian court on Wednesday handed former President Alejandro Toledo a second prison sentence for money laundering and corruption in a case tied to bribes he received from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Toledo, who led Peru from 2001 to 2006, was sentenced to 13 years and four months for money laundering, the judiciary said on X. It was his second conviction in connection with the sprawling scandal. His latest sentence will not be added to his existing 20-year prison term but will run concurrently at Lima’s Barbadillo Prison, where three other ex-presidents are also jailed. The court found the 79-year-old…

Bolivia: Ex-Interior Minister Arrested Following U.S. Extradition

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
Bolivian authorities arrested former Interior Minister Arturo Murillo on Thursday after his extradition from the United States, where he had been serving a prison sentence for money laundering, the Interior Ministry said. The 61-year-old was taken into custody upon arrival in Santa Cruz. Murillo faces multiple charges in Bolivia, including an eight-year sentence in a 2019 case over the irregular purchase of tear gas from Ecuador, which allegedly cost the state more than $2.3 million. He was first detained in the U.S. in 2021 on accusations of taking bribes from a Florida-based company and was sentenced there to six years in prison in 2023. Article…

Disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife gets 4½ years in prison for her role in a bribery scheme

Bribery, Prosecutions
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife told a judge that her husband was “not the man I thought he was” before she was sentenced Thursday to 4½ years in prison for selling the powerful New Jersey politician’s influence in exchange for bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car. U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein sentenced Nadine Menendez, 58, after she was convicted in April of colluding from 2018 to 2023 with her husband, the former Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a variety of corrupt schemes, some involving assisting the Egyptian government. Sobbing as she…

China Launches Corruption Probe Into Former Securities Regulator

Corruption
China’s top anti-corruption watchdog has launched an investigation into Yi Huiman, the former head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and a veteran of the country’s banking sector. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision claimed that Yi, 61, is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law” and is under disciplinary and supervisory review. Yi is one of the most prominent financial officials to face scrutiny in recent years. He spent decades in China’s state-owned banking system, rising to chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest lender…

Eurojust coordinates action to halt cryptocurrency fraud of over 100 million euros across Europe

Fraud
At the request of the Spanish and Portuguese authorities, Eurojust has coordinated a major operation across Europe to halt an elaborate investment fraud with cryptocurrencies. During an action day, five suspects were arrested, including the alleged main perpetrator behind the scam. Via an online investment platform, he defrauded over a hundred victims in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, among others, of at least EUR 100 million. During the joint action day, five places were searched in both Spain and Portugal, as well as in Italy, Romania and Bulgaria, where bank accounts and other financial assets were also frozen. The alleged…

Azerbaijan Jails Ex-Oil Executive for $32M Embezzlement

Fraud, Money Laundering, Prosecutions
An Azerbaijani court has sentenced a former state oil firm executive to 14 years in jail for embezzling 54 million manats ($31.76 million). The Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Monday jailed Ramin Isayev—who served from 2008 to 2020 as the general director of SOCAR AQS, a joint venture of the state oil firm that operates drilling rigs in the Caspian Sea—after finding him guilty of embezzlement, money laundering, abuse of office, and fraud. The court also ordered the confiscation of real estate and large sums of cash belonging to him and his family, according to RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service. The…

Swiss seek ways to bolster financial crime office

Financial Crime
The Swiss government has tasked the Federal Department of Justice and Police with presenting concrete options by the end of 2026. Under constant pressure, MROS (the Money Laundering Reporting Office) is in a critical situation, the Federal Council explained on Friday. This assessment was echoed by the Swiss Federal Audit Office in a report published this week. It warned that insufficient resources were preventing MROS from fully fulfilling its legal mandate. Overwhelmed with informationThis office receives reports of suspected money laundering and terrorist financing. These reports are sent to it by financial intermediaries, such as banks. However, MROS is overwhelmed…

Varengold Bank AG: BaFin orders comprehensive remediation of shortcomings and imposes administrative fine

Regulation
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has identified serious shortcomings at Varengold Bank AG in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. BaFin has therefore ordered the institution to take appropriate and suitable measures to remedy these shortcomings. In addition, BaFin has imposed on Varengold Bank AG an administrative fine of EUR 3.3 million and a coercive fine of EUR 500,000. In the special inspection conducted in 2022 and in the annual audits for 2022 and 2023, Varengold Bank AG was found to have serious shortcomings in the prevention of money laundering, in particular in the execution of transactions…

Fugitive Moldovan tycoon recruits top Russian bankers to run sanctions-busting crypto firm: leak

Sanctions
CITY OF LONDON–Senior executives from Russia’s mainstream banking sector have joined an avowedly sanctions-proof crypto and payments firm at the heart of the Kremlin’s strategy to disrupt the West, leaked documents show. The documents reveal, in granular detail, the emerging sanctions evasion tactics and election interference campaigns run by fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor, who is backed by the Kremlin – as well as the significant amount of financial and human resources the 38-year-old tycoon appears to have at his command. Those resources include ex-department chiefs from large banking institutions such as Russia’s Sberbank, state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) and…

Romanian Authorities Investigate HS Timber Employees in Alleged Tax Scheme

Tax Evasion
Romanian authorities are investigating employees of the local subsidiary of Austria’s HS Timber Group for allegedly failing to pay $8 million in taxes on sales of undeclared lumber, according to a prosecution document provided to OCCRP’s member center, Rise. HS Timber Production Romania said it was cooperating with the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT). “The company has always been fully cooperating with the authorities to ensure comprehensive and transparent fact finding processes,” HS Timber Production Romania said in an emailed response to questions. The company added that it “has always operated in compliance with all applicable national…

Money Laundering and Sanctions Evasion: Select Committee on China Holds Roundtable Examining Hong Kong’s Role

Money Laundering, Sanctions
Today, House Select Committee on China held a roundtable discussion examining Hong Kong’s Role as a Safe Haven for PRC Money Laundering and Sanctions Evasion.“Hong Kong’s opaque financial system, coupled with the sheer volume of cross-border financial flows from the mainland, has made it a magnet for criminal activity. Reports have shown the city’s role in trade-based money laundering, shell companies, and fraudulent networks designed to move and obscure dirty money. Even more concerning, Hong Kong has become a staging ground for transactions that help sanctioned regimes—including North Korea, Russia, and Iran—gain access to the global financial system. This empowers…

Georgia Detains Exchange Owner in $660M Laundering Probe

Money Laundering
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office  on Tuesday announced the arrest of a local currency exchange owner accused of laundering more than $660 million, calling it the country’s largest money-laundering scheme to date. A court ordered Kakha Kotorashvili, 49, head of the currency firm Fin, held in pre-trial detention on money-laundering charges. If convicted, he faces up to 12 years in prison. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the investigation—conducted together with the State Security Service—found that between 2022 and 2024, Kotorashvili organized an “illegal network for collecting money of unsubstantiated origin, disguising its source through conversion, and placing it into legal circulation.” While the Prosecutor’s Office did not…

The Global Anti-Financial Crime System is Broken

Financial Crime, Financial Crime Controls
For over 35 years, global standards have required countries around the world to put in place laws, regulations and structures to prevent and detect money laundering (and, more recently, terrorist financing and proliferation financing). The internationals standard-setter, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) provides a framework of measures for countries to implement; every ten years or so, countries are reviewed for both their technical compliance with the recommendations and the effectiveness of the measures that they have put in place. Since the establishment of the FATF in 1989, the global financial system has become infinitely more complex and fragmented; and…

Police Arrest 5 in €100M Cross-Border Cryptocurrency Fraud Case

Fraud, Prosecutions
Police across Europe have arrested five suspects in a cross-border operation coordinated by Eurojust that targeted an online cryptocurrency investment scam that defrauded victims of at least €100 million. The arrests, which included the alleged main organizer, took place during a joint action day that also saw searches carried out and bank accounts and other assets frozen in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria, Eurojust said Wednesday. The suspected organizer is under investigation for large-scale fraud and money laundering. Authorities said the scheme lured investors onto professionally designed platforms that promised high returns from cryptocurrencies. Instead, much of the money…

Criminals stripped of money in record year for compensation

Proceeds of Crime, Prosecutions
Victims of crime have received record compensation from criminal funds as new figures show results of a yearlong crackdown on dirty money.   Asset recovery gives law enforcement the tools to track down and take back assets gained through criminal activity, ensuring offenders cannot benefit from the proceeds of their crimes.  New figures released today (Thursday 11 September) show that almost £50 million taken from criminals was returned to victims, an 165% increase on the previous year and the highest amount in over half a decade.   This comes as law enforcement recovered almost £300 million in criminal assets. It highlights…

Showing financial crime the red card

Regulation
Speech by Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, at the 1LoD Financial Crime Summit. It’s great to be here to help kick off this year’s Financial Crime Summit. This is actually my second ‘kick off’ of the week – I was lucky enough to be at the Serbia-England game on Tuesday. On the terraces rather than on the pitch – I’m still waiting patiently for my call-up to the squad – but in the meantime, I take every chance I get to catch a match. There’s nothing like being in the stands – the high stakes,…

High Court: Solicitor “turned blind eye” to money laundering concerns

Money Laundering
A partner at a London law firm “dishonestly assisted” in misappropriating a company’s funds by turning a blind eye to money laundering issues raised by three property transactions, the High Court has ruled. Deputy High Court Judge Saira Salimi ruled that Daniel Broughton “repeatedly failed to obtain documentary evidence of funds and their source, and to follow up on inquiries he had made”. As a result, £2.4m of funds misappropriated from the claimant, Grosvenor Property Developers Ltd, passed through Portner & Co’s client account. She continued: “The repeated explanation for these lapses is an acknowledgement that he was ‘sloppy’ or…