Author: gracechurchfcp

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,…

UN Sounds Alarm on Expanding Modern Slavery

Modern Slavery, Organised Crime
Around 50 million people worldwide are trapped in modern forms of slavery, “perpetuated by crime rings,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday. Modern slavery often involves forced labour exploited by organized criminal networks that “prey on people facing extreme poverty, discrimination, environmental degradation, armed conflict, or migration in search of safety and opportunity,” Guterres said in a message, marking the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. The UN Human Rights Council has highlighted emerging forms of exploitation, including forced criminality in cyber-scamming operations. These crimes, “often operating across borders and enabled by irresponsible business practices, technology, and corruption,” show…

Treasury Steps Up Crackdown on U.S. Firms Linked to Sanctioned Russian Oligarchs

Sanctions
Key Takeaways Two major OFAC Penalties: Treasury imposed more than $18 million in sanctions fines this week over prohibited dealings involving designated Russian oligarchs.IPI Partners Case: The private equity firm continued to process capital calls, distributions, and management fees tied to Suleiman Kerimov for four years after his April 2018 designation, resulting in 51 apparent violations and an $11.49 million settlement.Gracetown Violations Deemed Egregious: The New York property manager received 24 monthly payments linked to Oleg Deripaska and waited over 45 months to report blocked property, triggering a $7.14 million civil penalty.Compliance Lessons Emphasized: OFAC warned that firms must look…

Greek Court to Hear Case Against Aid Workers Allegedly Smuggling Migrants

Money Laundering
More than 20 humanitarian workers are set to stand trial in Greece on migrant-smuggling and money-laundering charges, seven years after authorities arrested them for their work rescuing migrants and refugees at sea. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison. The Mytilene Court of Appeals on the Greek island of Lesvos is expected to hear the case on December 4, bringing 24 human rights defenders before judges on felony charges of “membership of a criminal organization,” “facilitation of the entry of third-country nationals into the country” and “money laundering.” Human rights groups have unanimously denounced the accusations as…

U.S. Treasury Eyes New Power to Steer Anti-Money-Laundering Enforcement

Money Laundering, Regulation
Key TakeawaysFinCEN’s Gatekeeper Role: A Treasury draft proposal would position FinCEN as the central decision-maker on AML enforcement actions taken by other regulators.WSJ First to Report: The Wall Street Journal initially reported the proposal being circulated among federal banking regulators.Focus on Effectiveness: The plan aims to prioritize actionable intelligence over technical compliance errors that banks argue are costly and unproductive.Deregulatory Shift: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent views current AML oversight as inhibiting economic growth while failing to stop major laundering activity.Deep DiveThe Treasury Department is positioning itself to take a more commanding role in how the U.S. fights illicit finance, with…

Swiss-Based “Cryptomixer” Dismantled After Laundering €1.3 Billion in Bitcoin

Money Laundering
Eurojust and Europol said Monday that, together with German and Swiss law enforcement, they dismantled “Cryptomixer,” a cryptocurrency‑mixing service used to launder proceeds from drug and weapons trafficking, ransomware attacks, payment card fraud and other crimes. Officials said the takedown, carried out between November  24 and 28 in Switzerland, resulted in the seizure of more than 25 million euros ($29.1 million) in cryptocurrency, three servers, the service’s domain and over 12 terabytes of data. Since its creation in 2016, Cryptomixer has allegedly processed over 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in Bitcoin, helping criminals obscure the origin of illicit funds. Investigators…

AMLA Lays the Groundwork for EU-Wide AML Supervision Ahead of 2028 Shift

Money Laundering
Key TakeawaysDirect EU Supervision Begins in 2028: AMLA will take over supervision of 40 high-risk financial institutions or groups.Single Risk Lens Across the EU: National supervisors and AMLA will apply the same data points and criteria when assessing AML and CFT risks.Binding Standards Pending Approval: Once approved by the European Commission, the rules will apply directly in all Member States.Consultation Now Open: Stakeholders can comment on cooperation standards until 27 January 2026.Testing Phase Planned for 2026: AMLA will trial the methodology and selection process before supervision goes live.Deep DiveEurope’s new anti-money laundering authority is beginning to move from blueprint to…

Credit Suisse Faces Swiss Charges for 2016 Mozambique Loan Scandal

Corruption
Swiss prosecutors filed charges Monday against Credit Suisse over what they say were organizational failures that allowed money laundering linked to Mozambique’s “tuna bonds” fraud, which devastated the country’s economy in the 2010s. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said Credit Suisse Group AG and its parent, UBS Group AG, which absorbed the bank in 2023, are being held liable for “organizational deficiencies” that allowed the laundering to occur. Prosecutors also indicted a former Credit Suisse employee for aggravated money laundering. According to the indictment, the deficiencies enabled more than $2 billion in loans to be issued to…

TIGO Guatemala Pays Over $118 Million to Close U.S. Bribery Case

Bribery
Key Takeaways$118 Million Resolution: TIGO Guatemala paid more than $118 million to resolve a U.S. investigation into foreign bribery under the FCPA.Two-Year DPA: The company entered a deferred prosecution agreement after being charged with conspiracy to violate U.S. anti-bribery laws.Years-Long Bribery Scheme: From 2012 to 2018, cash bribes were paid to Guatemalan lawmakers and their security teams, some funded with narcotrafficking proceeds.Partial Cooperation Credit: Early disclosure helped, but obstruction by a former shareholder and new evidence later uncovered meant the company did not qualify for full voluntary disclosure benefits.Major Compliance Overhaul: Following Millicom’s takeover, TIGO Guatemala implemented extensive remediation and…

Scam Network Crackdown Takes Aim At Firms Behind Fraudulent Ads

Fraud
Authorities in Europe and Israel have targeted companies and suspects behind fraudulent social media advertising campaigns as part of a crackdown on a massive cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering operation, which allegedly scammed thousands of victims with fake online investment schemes. Coordinated actions by law enforcement in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, and Israel in November led to two arrests and other suspects questioned, Europol said Thursday. The European Union law enforcement agency said it was the second phase of an operation that led to nine arrests in October across Cyprus, Germany, and Spain connected with the laundering of illicit funds generated…

FinCEN Turns Data Into Action as Treasury Tightens the Net on Money Laundering

Money Laundering
Key TakeawaysData at Scale: FinCEN is using advanced analytics drawn from more than one million transaction reports to drive enforcement.Border Focus: Over 100 MSBs along the southwest border are under review for potential Bank Secrecy Act failures.Global Networks in Scope: Treasury is simultaneously targeting Chinese money laundering networks linked to $7.1 billion in suspected activity.Public-Private Pressure: Banks and non-bank financial firms are being pulled closer into real-time coordination with regulators and law enforcement.Deep DiveThe U.S. Treasury is leaning harder into data, technology, and coordination as it steps up efforts to disrupt money laundering tied to organized crime and cross-border networks.…

SFO & Five Eyes Publish New Guidance on Indicators of Foreign Bribery

Bribery, Corruption
Key TakeawaysJoint Enforcement Signal: The UK Serious Fraud Office and Five Eyes partners have published their first agreed set of foreign bribery indicators, reflecting shared investigative experience across jurisdictions.Early Risk Detection Tool: The guidance is designed to help businesses, compliance teams, and professionals spot patterns that may indicate bribery risk before misconduct escalates.Context Matters: Individual indicators do not imply criminal activity on their own; risk emerges when multiple factors appear together or conflict with a company’s broader risk profile.Overlap With Financial Crime: Several indicators mirror red flags seen in money laundering cases, reinforcing the need for integrated financial crime and…

UK Outlines Tougher Anti-Corruption Measures Focused on Professional Enablers

Corruption
The U.K. government launched a more aggressive anti-corruption offensive, vowing to hunt down the lawyers, accountants and financial professionals who help criminals and sanctioned oligarchs launder their wealth through Britain’s economy. The new strategy outlines more than 120 commitments across government and includes 15 million pounds (over $20 million) in new funding to expand the City of London Police’s Domestic Corruption Unit. Officials say the plan aims to close legal loopholes and strengthen the country’s defenses against illicit finance. To disrupt professionals who “enable corruption,” the document aims to go after practices such as creating opaque company structures, providing specialized…

Cocaine, corruption and colonialism: the crisis in the British Virgin Islands

Corruption
Augustus James Ulysses Jaspert, Gus for short, arrived in Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, on 21 August 2017, just two weeks away from catastrophe. Jaspert, who was in his late 30s, had recently been appointed governor by the late Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of the Foreign Office in London. The BVI is an overseas territory of Britain, with only partial independence, and the governor effectively acts as a backstop to the locally elected legislature. For Jaspert, a career civil servant, it would be his first hands-on experience of governing – and his first time in…

Illicit Finance Summit to build international coalition against dirty money

Corruption, Money Laundering
Governments, civil society and the private sector to gather in London next year to accelerate fight against corruption and dirty money, as details of major summit outlined by Foreign Secretary.Foreign Secretary calls out illicit finance as the ‘lifeblood of crime’ on UK streets and promises to ‘take the fight to the corrupt’.New funding for investigative journalists exposing corruption announced as UK prepares to launch new Anti-Corruption Strategy.The UK will host a major international summit next summer to tackle the flows of dirty money around the world, which are making the UK’s streets less safe. Taking place at Lancaster House in…

Fifty jurisdictions, one goal: Eurojust unites prosecutors from around the world to fight organised crime

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
Organised crime groups are operating on a global scale and evolving at an unprecedented pace, exploiting new technologies and geopolitical instability. These once-local groups are spanning continents and currencies, well beyond EU borders. To bring down globalised criminal networks effectively, Eurojust is scaling up its cooperation with judicial authorities outside the European Union. High-level representatives, including a minister and prosecutor generals from 50 jurisdictions representing Latin America, the Western Balkans, North Africa, the Middle East and the European Union convened to design strategic and operational actions to fight the threat of criminal groups. The event included the endorsement of a…

Rogue insiders and dirty money targeted in corruption crackdown

Corruption
Corrupt insiders and criminal networks will be brought to justice by a strengthened specialist police unit and tougher safeguards across the public sector, as government unveils a landmark anti-corruption strategy. Launching today, the new strategy sets out how the UK will shut out corrupt actors, disrupt dirty money and restore integrity in public life. It targets corrupt networks at home and abroad to strengthen national security while driving growth. Action to root out corruption in the UK will step up through a major expansion of the Domestic Corruption Unit (DCU) based in the City of London Police. Backed by £15…

FCA fines Nationwide £44m for failings in financial crime controls

Regulatory Fines
The FCA has fined Nationwide Building Society £44m for inadequate anti-financial crime systems and controls between October 2016 to July 2021. During this period, Nationwide had ineffective systems for keeping up-to-date due diligence and risk assessments for all its personal current account customers and for monitoring their transactions. Nationwide was also aware that some of those customers were using their personal accounts for business activity, in breach of its terms. Nationwide did not offer business current accounts at this point, so did not have the right processes in place to manage the financial crime risks from business activity. This meant…

Belgian Authorities Charge Ex-EU Justice Chief for Money Laundering

Money Laundering
Belgian authorities charged former Belgian Deputy Prime Minister—who also served as the EU Commissioner for Justice—Didier Reynders with money laundering, involving around one million euros in liquid cash found in his bank account. According to reports by Le Soir and Dutch investigative news outlet Follow The Money, Reynders was interrogated on October 16 in connection with unexplained cash deposits totaling approximately 700,000 euros ($803,098), which authorities allege he made into an ING Bank account between 2008 and 2018. His wife, Bernadette Prignon, was also reportedly questioned but has not been charged. Reynders’ lawyer, André Renette, confirmed in a statement seen…

Shortcomings in Money Laundering Prevention Lead to €45 Million Fine for J.P. Morgan

Money Laundering, Prosecutions
Germany’s financial watchdog has fined J.P. Morgan €45 million after identifying widespread failures in the bank’s processes for reporting suspicious transactions, according to a notice from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). The Frankfurt-based institution was found to have “culpably breached” its supervisory obligations related to internal controls designed to detect and report potential money laundering. BaFin said that, between October 4, 2021, and September 30, 2022, the bank systematically failed to submit suspicious transaction reports to the German Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) without undue delay, a core requirement under Germany’s Money Laundering Act (Geldwäschegesetz). The enforcement action became final…

Europe-Wide Crackdown Targets Crypto Fraud, 600M Euros Stolen

Digital Currencies, Fraud
Authorities across Europe dismantled a massive cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering network, arresting nine suspects in a coordinated operation spanning Cyprus, Spain, and Germany. The network allegedly scammed hundreds of victims out of more than 600 million euros ($688.9 million), Eurojust, the European Union’s judicial cooperation hub, said Tuesday. The suspects reportedly created dozens of fake crypto investment platforms that mimicked legitimate websites and promised high returns. Victims were recruited through social media ads, cold calls, fake news articles, and fabricated celebrity endorsements. Once funds were transferred, victims were unable to recover their money. Investigators said the criminals laundered the…

First Trust Portfolios Fined $10 Million Over Improper Gifts & Misleading Records

Bribery, Prosecutions
First Trust Portfolios has agreed to pay a $10 million fine and accept a censure after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) found the firm provided lavish gifts and entertainment to broker-dealer representatives in violation of longstanding limits on non-cash compensation tied to investment product sales. The settlement is outlined in a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) that First Trust submitted without admitting or denying the findings. The Illinois-based firm, a wholesale distributor of investment company securities, has been a FINRA member since 1991 and works with hundreds of registered representatives across the country. According to FINRA, from…

France Puts Cement Giant on Trial for Allegedly Financing ISIS

Counter Terrorist Financing, Terrorism
A French court on Tuesday opened the trial of cement giant Lafarge over allegations the company paid millions of euros to jihadist groups in Syria between 2013 and 2014 to keep a local plant running during the country’s civil war. The Paris Criminal Court is hearing the case against the French company and eight other defendants accused of financing armed groups in war-torn Syria, including the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and the al-Nusrah Front (ANF), to keep its local subsidiary operating. The trial is scheduled to run until December 16. Among the accused is former CEO Bruno…

Ukraine Cracks Down on ‘Shadow Managers’ in $100 Million Energy Fraud Case

Fraud
Ukraine’s government has moved to sanction businessman Timur Mindich, a close associate and business partner of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, amid a widening corruption probe that has already ensnared several senior officials. The decision was announced Wednesday, a day after Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said it had dismantled a high-level criminal organization accused of siphoning large sums from the country’s state-owned nuclear energy operator, Energoatom, through an elaborate kickback and money-laundering scheme. NABU said the 15-month investigation, codenamed Midas, uncovered a group of so-called “shadow managers” who allegedly infiltrated Energoatom to systematically extort kickbacks from contractors and laundered an estimated…