Month: July 2026

CBD boss sentenced for fraud and money laundering after using funds to buy Lanzarote property

Fraud, Money Laundering
A CBD brand boss has been sentenced for fraud and money laundering after transferring loan funds through multiple accounts to help buy a property in Lanzarote. Alex Hope, 41, was director of management consultancy A Hope Ltd when he fraudulently secured a £25,000 Bounce Back Loan in 2020. He was also a director of Virtutum Limited, which traded as CBD Asylum in Hull, when the company secured a £56,000 loan from a private lender in 2021. Funds from both loans were laundered through a number of accounts before being used to help purchase the property for Hope and his wife.…

DNB imposes fine on ABN AMRO for shortcomings in part of anti-money laundering framework

Money Laundering
ABN AMRO has taken note of the decision by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) to impose an administrative fine of EUR 8.5 million in relation to structural shortcomings in the execution of due diligence for a part of its high-risk customers. DNB identified structural shortcomings in a number of files investigated for the period from 20 September 2023 to 9 September 2024. Since the shortcomings were identified by DNB, ABN AMRO has taken further concrete remediation measures to strengthen the effectiveness of its AML processes. ABN AMRO acknowledges the seriousness of the shortcomings identified by DNB and the factual findings in…

City police dismantle Organised Crime Group smuggling high-strength cannabis in air passengers’ suitcases and laundering millions

Organised Crime
Two men who controlled an organised crime group (OCG) involved in laundering £5 million and arranging the transportation of hundreds of kilos of Californian cannabis in the UK have been jailed. Tejpal Vig, 36, of Newton Road, Denham, and Rikesh Shah, 33, of Bute Close, Barnet, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class B drugs and money laundering. They have both been sentenced to eight years and six months for conspiracy to supply class B drugs and eight years to money laundering to run concurrently. The criminal network was dismantled by the City of London Police’s Serious Organised Crime…

EUR 1 million seized during ongoing investigation into money laundering network

Money Laundering
French and Italian authorities have continued to work together on an investigation into a money laundering network that uses gold bars to launder drug trafficking profits. Following an initial operation in which EUR 30 million was seized, criminal assets worth EUR 1 million were seized under the coordination of Eurojust and Europol, together with Kosovar authorities. The international criminal network had set up a sophisticated money laundering scheme whereby the illicit proceeds generated from drug trafficking in France were collected at a residence in Italy and converted into gold bars and gold sheets. This made it possible to hide the…

Over 5,800 arrests, USD 293 million intercepted in global fraud bust

Fraud
LYON, France – A global anti-fraud operation involving 97 countries and territories has led to the arrest of 5,811 individuals and the interception of USD 293 million in illicit assets. Operation First Light 2026 (15 Jan 2026 – 30 April 2026), coordinated by INTERPOL, focused on combatting social engineering scams and associated money laundering activities. Social engineering is a broad term that refers to techniques that exploit a person’s trust to obtain money or confidential information. This type of fraud can include business email compromise, sextortion, as well as romance, impersonation or investment scams. After an initial period of intelligence…

Anti-corruption in France: first AFA sanction and 2025 report

Corruption
The French Anti-Corruption Agency (Agence française anticorruption, AFA) published its 2025 activity report in July 2026. Beyond its institutional review, the report contains a number of figures and trends that are directly relevant to companies and their legal and compliance departments: a sharp increase in reports received, continued recourse to the judicial public interest agreement (convention judiciaire d’intérêt public, CJIP), persistent weaknesses in anti-corruption programmes, and an expanded scope for Article 17 of the Sapin II Law. In the immediate aftermath of this publication, on 9 July 2026, the AFA Sanctions Committee issued its first decision imposing financial penalties on…

EU steps up the fight against fraud to better protect taxpayers’ money

Fraud
The European Commission today published its 2025 Annual Report on the Protection of the European Union’s Financial Interests (PIF Report), introducing for the first time a comprehensive assessment of the entire anti-fraud cycle and setting out the next steps to strengthen the protection of the EU budget against fraud and corruption. The report marks a significant evolution in how the European Union measures its efforts to safeguard public funds. Rather than focusing primarily on fraud detection, it assesses every stage of the anti-fraud cycle, from prevention and early detection to investigation, prosecution, recovery and reporting. By bringing together information from…

Sanctioned Alleged Iranian Oil Network “Financier” Behind £25M in Luxury London Real Estate

Sanctions
An Iranian businessman sanctioned by the U.S. this week for allegedly financing a massive oil-smuggling network owns 25 million British pounds ($33.46 million) in luxury London real estate, newly uncovered property records show. On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Iranian businessman Hossein Ghorbani Zahed as part of a broader package of measures targeting the “illicit shipping and sanctions evasion network” of oil distribution magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the action against the Shamkhani network, first sanctioned in July 2025, was part of “ongoing efforts to ramp up economic pressure…

Spies, Malware, and Blackouts: EU Blames Secret FSB Unit for Decade of Cyber Sabotage

Cyber Crime
The European Union and Britain on Monday blamed a highly specialized unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, for a decade-long campaign of cyber-espionage and attempted sabotage targeting critical infrastructure, including power grids and defense networks, across Europe. To counter the threat, the Council of the European Union imposed asset freezes and travel bans on nine individuals and four entities linked to the campaign. Britain issued parallel sanctions targeting 24 individuals and entities. In a coordinated series of announcements, Western officials identified the 16th Center of the FSB as the orchestrator of several notorious hacking collectives, including the group…

UK Finalizes Crypto Rulebook, Opening Path to Full FCA Supervision

Digital Currencies, Regulation
The UK Financial Conduct Authority published the final rules governing firms that buy, trade, safeguard and issue cryptoassets, completing the policy framework that will underpin the country’s new regulatory regime. The package reaches well beyond anti-money laundering controls and financial promotions, bringing prudential requirements, market conduct standards and consumer protections into a sector that has long operated under a narrower form of oversight. For firms hoping to build a long-term business in the UK, the message is equally clear: authorization will become mandatory, and the standards expected of crypto firms will begin to resemble those already applied across much of…

Finnish Court Jails Businessman Over Exports to Russia

Prosecutions, Sanctions
A Finnish court sentenced the chief executive of a transport company to three years and eight months in prison for exporting trucks and trailers to Russia in violation of EU sanctions, the Finnish public service broadcaster, Yle, reported Wednesday. The South Karelia District Court found that Risto Riihimäki, head of Lappeenranta-based Idän Liikenteenvälitys IL Oy, played a central role in sending 164 trucks and trailers to Russia in 2022 and 2023, despite restrictions imposed after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The company, which now operates as Rent ja Kalusto Oy, had declared that the vehicles were bound for companies registered…

UK Finance Fraud Report: adapting to the next phase of fraud and scams

Fraud
Fraud volumes continue to rise across the globe, and UK institutions are in the crosshairs of increasingly sophisticated criminal networks. UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report 2026 highlights a troubling reality: while financial institutions continue to prevent significant volumes of fraud, criminals are becoming more skilled at avoiding scrutiny. In 2025 alone, criminals stole £1.28 billion through payment fraud, representing a 4 per cent year-on-year increase and the second consecutive year of growth. These figures reflect not only the scale of the threat but also the adaptability that new technologies afford organised criminal enterprises. The most important insight from this year’s…

Iraq Intensifies Anti-Graft Drive with Dozens of High-Profile Arrests, Asset Seizures

Corruption, Prosecutions
A sweeping anti-corruption campaign led by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has resulted in the arrest of dozens of senior officials and lawmakers, drawing praise from parliamentary watchdogs who also warn that the drive must cut deeper to dismantle the country’s entrenched patronage networks. Taha Difai, the head of Iraq’s parliamentary Committee for Integrity, cautioned that the high-profile arrests and asset seizures would ultimately yield little long-term impact unless investigations targeted the powerful political factions that have dominated public spending for more than two decades. “We support the government’s measures to combat corruption, pursue corrupt officials and recover public funds. These…

Interpol: 5,811 Arrested, $293M Seized in Massive Cyber Crackdown

Fraud, Prosecutions
An international anti-fraud operation coordinated by Interpol has led to the arrest of 5,811 individuals and the interception of $293 million in illicit assets, the international police agency announced Thursday. The operation, which spanned 97 countries between Jan. 15 and April 30, targeted ‘social engineering’ schemes. These included business email compromise, sextortion, impersonation, and investment scams, as well as the money laundering activities linked to them. Over the course of the four-month crackdown, authorities identified more than 142,000 victims globally across 152,808 cases. Interpol stated that the sheer number of victims “highlights the extent to which social engineering scams and…

EU Moves to Standardize Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement

Money Laundering, Regulation
On Wednesday, AMLA published draft regulatory technical standards that would establish, for the first time, a common methodology for supervisors across the European Union when enforcing breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules. The proposal is less about creating tougher enforcement than creating more consistent enforcement. If two organizations commit the same breach under the same circumstances, supervisors should begin from the same framework and, absent meaningful differences in the facts, arrive at comparable outcomes. It is an idea that sounds almost self-evident when stated plainly. Until now, it has not been the reality. Most discussions about enforcement focus…

China: Former Official Sentenced to Death in $325 Million Bribery Case

Bribery, Prosecutions
A Chinese court has sentenced a former senior official to death for accepting more than 2.21 billion yuan ($325 million) in bribes over a 30-year period, according to a statement from the Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu province. The court found 69-year-old Yang Youlin guilty of bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, and abuse of power. The offenses were committed while he held various administrative positions from 1993 to 2023, including his role as deputy director of an economic zone in the eastern city of Nanjing. In addition to the death sentence, the court stripped Yang of his political rights for…

Scoular to Pay Over $10 Million to Resolve FCPA Bribery Case

Bribery, Prosecutions
What appeared on the books as re-inspection fees was, prosecutors say, something else entirely. Over six years, The Scoular Company allegedly reimbursed customs brokers for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes paid to Mexican border officials, a scheme that has now resulted in a resolution worth more than $10 million with the U.S. Department of Justice. The Omaha-based agricultural supply chain company entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement after being charged with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The case stems from conduct between 2013 and 2019, when Scoular relied on customs…