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OFAC amends Global Magnitsky Sanctions Regulations and designates network of al-Shabaab facilitators

According to OFAC, al-Shabaab generates more than $100m per year to support al-Qa’ida ambitions worldwide and is responsible for some of the worst terrorist attacks in East Africa’s modern history that have claimed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians.  The targeted network is reportedly made up of influential businesspersons and companies located in the Horn of Africa, the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) and Cyprus.

US DoJ announces sentences leader of drug trafficking organisation sentenced for international cocaine trafficking conspiracy

The leader of the Lorenzana drug trafficking organization was sentenced last week to 33 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $27 million for charges related to international drug trafficking.

US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco delivers keynote remarks at the American Bar Association’s 39th National Institute on white collar crime

It was stated that accountability promotes fairness, drives deterrence, and fosters respect for the rule of law. At its best, it should also encourage investments in building a culture of compliance…

US DoJ charges man for $10m Covid-19 relief fraud scheme

According to court documents, Craig David Davis, 50, of Marina Del Rey, allegedly submitted fake tax documents and business records to three banks to obtain two Paycheck Protection Program loans and one Main Street Lending Program loan totaling $10,695,300. Davis is charged with four counts of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count…

US Treasury uses AI to recover more than $375 million in fraudulent payments

Check fraud has increased nationwide by 385% since the pandemic. To address the increase in fraud, Treasury’s Office of Payment Integrity (OPI), within the Bureau of the Fiscal Service implemented an enhanced process using AI to mitigate check fraud in near real-time by strengthening and expediting processes to recover potentially fraudulent payments from financial institutions…

 

 

US Task Force KleptoCapture announces array of new charges, arrests, and forfeiture proceedings in advance of second anniversary of illegal invasion of Ukraine

US seeks forfeiture of $2.5 million in luxury properties, makes two arrests, charges two sanctioned oligarchs, and secures guilty plea in significant money laundering case…

US DoJ convicts Javier Aguilar, former oil and gas trader, of FCPA violations and money laundering

A federal jury in Brooklyn convicted an oil and gas trader for his role in a scheme to bribe Ecuadorean and Mexican government officials and to launder money to secure contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars for his then-employer, Vitol Inc. (Vitol), the U.S. affiliate of the largest independent energy trading firm in the world…

US DoJ charges India and New Jersey-based jeweller with multimillion-dollar international trade fraud scheme and unlicensed money transmitting

Shah engaged in a scheme to evade duties for shipments of jewelry from Turkey and India to the US. Shah would ship or instruct his conspirators to ship goods from Turkey or India – which would have been subject to an approximately 5.5 percent duty if shipped directly to the US – to one of Shah’s companies in South Korea…

SSRN releases paper on ‘How Do Crypto Flows Finance Slavery? The Economics of Pig Butchering’

Through blockchain addresses used by ‘‘pig butchering’’ victims, the paper trace crypto flows and uncover methods commonly used by scammers to obfuscate their activities, including multiple transactions, swapping between cryptocurrencies through DeFi smart contracts, and bridging across blockchains…

DEA issues letter to E-commerce companies on the sale of pill presses used to make fentanyl pills

In 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized over 79 million fake pills containing fentanyl—a more than 33% increase from the year before. DEA laboratory testing currently indicates that 7 out of 10 pills contain a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl.

FinCEN proposes AML Rule for Investment Advisers

The proposed regulations will apply to investment advisers that may be at risk for misuse by money launderers, terrorist financers, or other actors who seek access to the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes via investment advisers and threaten U.S. national security…

US DOJ sentences 2 Chinese nationals for trafficking counterfeit Gift Cards to Belleville

The defendants retained the access numbers to 6,100 gift cards with intent to place the altered gift cards on the sales racks at Target. Once a gift card was loaded with funds by an unsuspecting patron, the fraudsters would have the codes needed to steal the funds…