Year: 2026

Action against EUR 306 million money laundering network

Money Laundering
Following investigations into a criminal group suspected of laundering at least EUR 306 million of illicit profits from drug trafficking and other crimes, 13 people have been arrested in France and Romania. Investigations coordinated through a joint investigation team at Eurojust revealed that the group had been operating in France and Romania between 2018 and 2024. Consisting of dozens of members operating from Romania and France, the criminal group is suspected of having laundered illicit profits from crimes such as drug trafficking. They set up a sophisticated international operation involving multiple legal entities in France, which they took over and…

Europe’s anti-money laundering body set to be fully operational in 2028

Money Laundering, Regulation
BRUSSELS, Feb 4 (Reuters) – The European Union’s new agency formed to fight dirty money said on Wednesday it was on track to be fully operational in 2028, as it set out its plan to tackle emerging illicit finance risks including crypto and “novel payment channels”.The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) is being established in Frankfurt, creating the first Europe-wide body to fight illegal financial flows.Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here.From 2028, AMLA will directly supervise 40 EU financial institutions judged to present the biggest risk. AMLA…

8 African economies facing heightened global scrutiny over money laundering controls in February 2026

Money Laundering
Eight African countries are under ‘increased monitoring’ by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), known as the grey list.Grey listing does not impose sanctions but signals to global financial institutions that enhanced scrutiny is required.Each grey-listed country, including Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Kenya, Namibia, and South Sudan, is undertaking specific reforms to strengthen regulatory frameworks.For emerging African economies, exiting the grey list is seen as a significant milestone signaling stronger regulation. When it places a country under increased monitoring, it means the jurisdiction has identified strategic weaknesses in its financial crime prevention systems and has formally committed to…

MONEYVAL calls on Guernsey to step up efforts against money laundering

Money Laundering
The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body, MONEYVAL, has published a report urging Guernsey to improve the investigation, prosecution and conviction of money laundering offences whilst also highlighting Guernsey’s good understanding of the risks of money laundering/terrorist financing and its highly effective application of targeted financial sanctions. The report commended Guernsey’s Financial Intelligence Unit for producing high-quality analytical products and strategic analysis, while acknowledging the limited extent to which they are used by law enforcement authorities to initiate investigations. The quality of suspicious activity reports also remains a concern. Guernsey is expected to report back to MONEYVAL, under MONEYVAL’s regular…

Reporter’s Notebook: How to Investigate Shadow Fleets

Sanctions
In the world of maritime trade, some ships play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek. They rapidly change flags, shift ownership, and even cut their tracking systems mid-voyage. These “dark fleet” tactics are often employed by vessels involved in nefarious activities such as sanctions evasion, arms trafficking or illegal fishing. At first sight, the trail of such ships can appear hard to follow. Yet the evidence is often still there, scattered across open sources. With perseverance, it can be possible to uncover more information about who is behind these shadowy vessels. As an example, we’ll walk you through some of the…

Cash rules everything in the age of money laundering

Money Laundering
For years, investigative journalists have salivated over that old heuristic “follow the money”. Deep Throat’s instruction to Robert Redford’s Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men, delivered in a shadowy car park, has become the North Star for uncovering financial crime and corruption. In his alarming new book, Everybody Loves Our Dollars, Oliver Bullough makes a compelling case that we’ve been looking in the wrong direction. To truly understand the global money-laundering industry, he argues, you need to think a lot bigger. Criminals today have sophisticated ways of making money disappear, “like a wizard in the Harry Potter books” –…

Understanding the hidden links between human trafficking and corruption

Corruption, Human Trafficking
Around the world, traffickers rely on public officials and private actors who collude, accept bribes or simply look the other way. This hidden alliance allows organized crime to flourish, victims to remain trapped and justice to be obstructed.To understand how these two crimes are connected, we uncover the hidden role corruption plays in enabling human trafficking: What is the link between corruption and human trafficking? Human trafficking involves the exploitation of people through forced labour, sexual exploitation, organ removal, or coerced criminality. Corruption enables traffickers to operate at scale, providing them with documents, protection and silence. Without corruption, trafficking networks…

US Bars Palau Senate Leader Over Alleged China Ties

Bribery
The U.S. barred the president of Palau’s Senate from entering the country over allegations he accepted bribes to promote the interests of China’s government and criminal figures. The U.S. State Department has barred the president of Palau’s Senate from traveling to the United States over allegations that he accepted bribes to advance the interests of China’s government and Chinese criminal figures, according to a department statement. The travel ban announced Tuesday targets Hokkons Baules, the president of Palau’s Senate, and Anderson Jibas, a former mayor from Marshall Islands. “Baules abused his public position by accepting bribes in exchange for providing…

Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit Sets 2026 Anti-Money Laundering Priorities

Money Laundering
Key Takeaways Freezing Criminal Funds, Faster: KoFIU wants the authority to freeze accounts tied to serious livelihood crimes without waiting for court orders, aiming to cut off criminal proceeds before they disappear.Cross-Border Crime Moves to Center Stage: International criminal groups would be added to prohibited transaction lists, alongside deeper coordination with foreign counterparts and FATF-led initiatives.Crypto Oversight Tightens Again: The travel rule would extend to lower-value transactions, with closer scrutiny of transfers involving personal wallets and overseas exchanges.AML Accountability Shifts Upward: Financial institutions would need to place clear AML responsibility on a senior executive, backed by mandatory evaluations and clearer…

Chinese Crypto Scam Fugitive With St. Kitts Passport Owns Dubai Property

Money Laundering, Regulation
Daren Li, who has fled a 20-year sentence for for his alleged role in stealing and laundering $73 million in Cambodia-based cryptocurrency scams, rents out a villa in Dubai Daren Li, a Chinese and Saint Kitts and Nevis national on the run from a 20-year United States prison sentence for his role in a large Cambodia-based cryptocurrency scam operation owns property in Dubai, real estate records show. Tenancy contract data shows that under his Saint Kitts passport, Li owns a five bedroom residential villa in Wadi Al Safa 7, a gated community in Dubai’s suburbs. As of last year, this…

AMLA Lays Out Its 2026–2028 Game Plan as Europe’s New AML Regulator Moves Toward Full Operations

Regulation
Key Takeaways AMLA Moves From Setup to Delivery: The 2026–2028 Single Programming Document marks AMLA’s transition from institutional build-out to operational supervision at EU level.Three Pillars Will Shape EU AML Oversight: AMLA’s priorities center on completing the Single Rulebook, driving supervisory convergence, and strengthening cooperation among Financial Intelligence Units.2026 Is the Inflection Point: The Authority will focus on turning mandates into practice through direct supervision, FIU framework implementation, and the foundations for indirect oversight.Early Signals for the Market: By prioritising clarity on areas such as customer due diligence and supervisory consistency, the SPD gives firms advance notice of where expectations…

Corruption Threatens Democracies Worldwide, Transparency International Warns

Corruption
Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index shows a world where democratic institutions are weakening, civic space is shrinking, and corruption is rising—from Europe and the Americas to Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Nepal’s Post-Uprising Election: Anti-Corruption Promises Vs Public SkepticismNepal is heading to polls on March 5 to democratically replace its government toppled by “Gen Z” protests six months ago. Every major political party is promising specific ways to end corruption, but the voters are questioning what they will deliver.Corruption is surging worldwide, threatening public trust, enabling organized crime, and weakening democratic institutions, Transparency International warned Tuesday in its 2025…

As AMLA Takes Shape, ECB Signals a New Era of Coordinated Financial Crime Supervision

Regulation
Key Takeaways AMLA Centralizes AML Supervision: The new EU authority will reduce national fragmentation and assume direct oversight of higher-risk institutions from 2028.Financial Crime Is a Prudential Risk: Weak AML controls can expose banks to governance, operational, legal and reputational risks that threaten safety and soundness.ECB and AMLA Formalize Cooperation: A 2025 Memorandum of Understanding sets the framework for information exchange, policy coordination and supervisory alignment.Digitalization Raises Both Risk and Opportunity: Cyber-enabled fraud and crypto-asset activity heighten exposure, while artificial intelligence offers enhanced detection tools.Implementation Is the Next Test: The effectiveness of Europe’s new AML architecture will depend on coordinated,…

Malaysia Seizes Millions in Cash and Gold in Military Procurement Probe

Corruption
Malaysia’s anti-corruption authorities said they had seized millions of dollars in cash, gold and luxury goods and frozen company bank accounts as part of a widening investigation into alleged corruption in military procurement, an inquiry that has ensnared senior armed forces figures and civilian contractors. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said the investigation focuses on two related cases involving suspected bribery, abuse of power and money laundering. At a news conference, Azam Baki, the agency’s chief commissioner, said 23 people — including military personnel and civilians — had been arrested so far. In the larger of the two cases, investigators seized…

UK Authorities Raid a Housing Company in Multi-Million-Pound Fraud Probe

Fraud
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Wednesday arrested six people and searched seven sites in an operation conducted as it announced a bribery and fraud investigation into the former management of Home REIT, a UK-listed social housing company. The suspected wrongdoing is valued at about 300 million pounds (nearly $404 million). Investigators, supported by the National Crime Agency, carried out searches at homes in Altrincham, Maidenhead and London, and a commercial site in Manchester. Italy’s Guardia di Finanza also searched a property in Venice as part of the inquiry. Home REIT, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2020,…

How Cambodia Became A Haven For Criminals

Fraud
Cambodia is a global epicenter for scam centers, home to one of the biggest synthetic drug labs ever detected, and its citizens have been involved in an array of Southeast Asia’s most infamous — and lucrative — transnational crimes. Meanwhile, “corruption and official complicity” enables “endemic” human trafficking involving tens of thousands of victims, according to the U.S. State Department. Cambodia’s government, which did not respond to questions from OCCRP, has launched a crackdown on scam factories and says it has made thousands of arrests. It also signed agreements to strengthen anti-money laundering measures last year. Even so, international observers…

Nepal Court Seeks Explanation for Dropping Money Laundering Case Against Ex-Home Minister

Money Laundering
Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to explain its decision to withdraw money laundering and organized crime charges against Rabi Lamichhane, the country’s former Home Minister. On Tuesday, a single bench of Justice Abdul Aziz Musalman issued a “show cause” order, granting the Attorney General’s Office 15 days to provide a written justification for dropping the high-profile charges. The court also directed Lamichhane to submit a response, either in person or through a legal representative. “The Attorney General’s Office has been ordered to send a response to the writ petition filed within 15 days,” Nirajan Pandey, the Supreme Court’s…

China Investigates Over 1 Million Corruption Cases in 2025

Bribery, Corruption
Chinese authorities imposed “disciplinary” measures on 983,000 people in more than one million corruption cases in 2025 alone, marking a record high for China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission. In a statement released Saturday, the anti-graft body said 69 officials at the provincial and ministerial levels and above were punished for corruption last year. Authorities also investigated 115 senior officials, while 5,016 bureau-level officials were probed. Throughout the year, investigators examined 33,000 individuals for bribery, and 4,306 people were referred for prosecution. Beijing’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign in 2025 resulted in several…

South Korea Launches AML Taskforce Ahead of 2028 FATF Review

Money Laundering
The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (Korea Financial Intelligence Unit) recently held the first meeting of a new taskforce tasked with revisiting the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information. While the meeting itself was procedural, the mandate behind it is anything but. The taskforce is meant to modernize Korea’s AML framework, sharpen responses to cross-border crime and large-scale financial fraud, and prepare the ground for South Korea’s next mutual evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force in 2028. Officials used the kickoff session to take stock. Taskforce members reviewed which parts of the existing regime no longer reflect…

Norway Charges PetroNor Subsidiary, Two Citizens Over Alleged Congo Oil Bribes

Bribery
Norwegian prosecutors have charged two individuals and a subsidiary of Oslo-listed PetroNor E&P with paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to people close or related to Congo’s president to secure oil licenses, according to an indictment shared with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Wednesday. The indictment, issued by Norway’s economic crime authority Økokrim, describes the case as “grand corruption,” alleging that senior political figures were targeted with bribes of exceptionally high value in connection with oil operations in the Republic of Congo from 2016 onward. The two Norwegians charged, Knut Søvold and Gerhard Ludvigsen, were senior…

German Prosecutors Raid Deutsche Bank in Money Laundering Probe

Money Laundering
German prosecutors searched Deutsche Bank offices in Frankfurt and Berlin as part of a probe into suspected money laundering linked to past transactions, adding to a series of high-profile investigations involving the lender. Banner: Boris Roessler/dpa/dpa Picture-Alliance via AFPRelated Articles Saudi Arabia Arrests 127 in Ongoing Anti-Corruption Campaign Design Firm That Donated £200,000 to Reform UK Owed £218,000 in TaxAuthorities threatened to close down Interior Architecture Landscape due to unpaid taxes. The design firm still managed to make a major donation to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party. The firm said the donations complied with U.K. electoral law. Montenegro Shaken as…

How crypto criminals stole $700 million from people – often using age-old tricks

Cyber Crime, Fraud
There’s something uniquely agonising about having your cryptocurrency stolen. All transactions are recorded on a digital ledger, known as a blockchain, so even if someone takes your money and puts it in their own crypto wallet, it is still visible online. “You can see your money there on the public blockchain, but there’s nothing you can do to get it back,” says Helen, who lost around $315,000 (£250,000) to thieves. She likens it to watching a burglar pile up your prized possessions on the other side of an impassable chasm. For seven years Helen and her husband Richard (not his…

Guernsey court seizes £8.5 million of Cryptoqueen’s assets under German confiscation order

Asset Seizure
Guernsey’s Royal Court has seized more than £8.5 million from a shell company bank account associated with the infamous missing ‘Cryptoqueen’ Dr Ruja Ignatova. The 45-year-old founded the digital currency OneCoin, but is believed to have used it as cover to help defraud victims out of more than $4 billion globally – making her one of the world’s most prolific alleged scammers. Dr Ignatova is on the FBI’s most wanted list, with a reward of up to $5 million offered for information leading to her arrest and conviction. Now, some of her assets have been seized by Guernsey authorities after…

Solicitors Regulatory Authority: 62 Percent of Law Firms Only Partially Compliant or Non-Compliant with Money Laundering Regulations

Regulation
The United Kingdom Money Laundering Regulations, enacted in 2017, established a wide range of specific legal obligations on United Kingdom businesses of all types to guard against those businesses being used as conduits for money laundering and terrorist financing (MLTF). Those obligations include: Customer due diligence (CDD) measures (ie, ‘taking steps to identify your customers and checking they are who they say they are’), including CDD in establishing a new business relationship (eg, obtaining information on the source and origin of funds that the customer will be using in the relationship).Updating risk assessments on customers if their circumstances change.Establishing and…

UK law firms get ready for crackdown on money laundering

Money Laundering, Supervision
UK law firms are bracing themselves for a money-laundering crackdown as ministers race to improve the City’s reputation ahead of a fresh financial crime review. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been designated as the new anti-money laundering watchdog for the legal sector, in a move that experts warn could result in “sharper” penalties and ultimately reshape the industry. The decision to consolidate regulation, which at present is spread across nine separate supervisors, is part of the government’s wider efforts to combat the UK’s reputation as a hub for “dirty money”. The National Crime Agency estimates that £100bn is being…

Moving to a single list for UK sanctions designations, 28 January 2026

Sanctions
IntroductionThe UK government’s sanctions lists changed to a single list on Wednesday 28 January 2026. UK sanctions designations are now only detailed in the UK Sanctions List (UKSL), published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets, which was published for HM Treasury by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) is no longer being updated. It is available for reference purposes on its old page. This guidance is to help you understand manage the change, in particular for businesses and industry that regularly use the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List…

Digital wallet fraud: how your bank card can be stolen without it leaving your wallet

Fraud
You get a call from your bank and the informed voice asks to you to confirm the personal details they have on file, which you do. You are then asked whether you bought something at an electrical retailer recently for £120 and spent £235 in Birmingham, but neither transaction rings true. The caller tells you they have blocked the payments but they must now secure your account, and say they will send you a notification to approve, or a code to pass on to them. You feel under pressure to protect your money, so you do what is asked. Unfortunately,…