Hello!  It’s July 18, and we’re tracking today's top stories: Indian crypto exchange falls victim to $230M hack, Russia finds it increasingly hard to get paid by China, Treasury targets Iran-backed Houthis, the cocaine kingpin who hid as a professional soccer player, and much more...  

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Featured Story

🎯 Indian crypto exchange falls victim to $230M hack. The exploiter is actively selling the stolen tokens on the onchain exchange Uniswap. CoinDesk

Top Stories

🌎 Russian Firms Find It Increasingly Hard to Get Paid by China. It’s now very difficult or even impossible to make direct payments from China to Russia after the latest round of U.S. sanctions. Bloomberg

🚩 China, Russia eye stronger cross-border payments as sanctions create ‘time bomb’ SCMP

🚩 Russia considers crypto solutions for international payment challenges Reuters

🚩 U.S. Jails Russian Businessman for Smuggling Military-Grade Electronics MT

🌎 Treasury Maintains Pressure on Houthi Illicit Shipping and Finance Schemes. Sa’id al-Jamal’s network provides tens of millions of dollars to Houthis in Yemen through shipment of Iranian commodities. U.S. Treasury

💥 Tehran Trouble: Polish state firm investigated Iranian drones; Spain and Germany arrest four for supplying Hezbollah with drone parts; U.S. warned Iran over suspicious nuclear activities; U.S. renews sanctions waiver for Iraq to purchase Iranian electricity.

🌎 A double life: The cocaine kingpin who hid as a professional soccer player. Marset deployed his power and wealth to fulfill a boyhood dream – he inserted himself into the starting lineups. WaPo

🌎 FBI details how USDT is laundered through Binance. Tether (USDT) is a convenient tool for romance and confidence scams due to its relative stability, speed, convertibility, and international transmissibility. Protos

🌎 Singapore Seeks to Standardize Banks’ AML Rules. MAS is prepared to give as much as S$100 million to support financial institutions in AI and quantum computing projects. Bloomberg

🌎 Biden Admin Doesn't Know If It's Sending Taxpayer Cash to the Taliban. Two State Department bureaus 'were unable to provide supporting documentation for many of their respective awards.' Free Beacon

🌎 Transnational Human Smuggler Indicted and Sanctioned in the U.S., Arrested in Mexico. Smuggled migrants originated from countries around the world, including Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and many others. DOJ

🌎 SEC Sues Ex-CEO of Digital World Alleging Securities Fraud. TMTG is the parent company of Truth Social and trades under the ticker DJT. Bloomberg

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 U.S. Musician Sentenced to 13 years in Russian Prison Newsweek

🇷🇺 UK adds 11 designations to Russia sanctions list Reuters

🇷🇺 Russia is running out of weapons and workers Semafor

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China

🇨🇳 HK police arrest 3 women for allegedly conspiring to launder HK$33M SCMP

🇨🇳 CCP removes ex-foreign, defense ministers from top body Reuters

🇨🇳 Seoul sanctions HK shipping firm over North Korea breach RFA

🇨🇳 ASML’s China Sales Surge Highlights Risk of Tighter US Curbs Bloomberg

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Chicago-area exec charged in scheme to bribe Amtrak official with trips and jewelry in $100M Philly train station renovation Chicago Trib

💸 Brazil's Americanas details accounting fraud Reuters

💸 Former Biden aide set up meeting between Qatari royal and US senator convicted of corruption ICIJ

💸 OCBC to recover over $20M from selling Sentosa Cove plot linked to AML probe Straits Times

💸 Nevada judge indicted on federal fraud charges Mercury News

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith's sentencing reduced by seven months Block

🔐 Fintechs Fly Planes of Cash Into Zimbabwe to Meet Demand for Dollars Bloomberg

🔐 Utah tech entrepreneur behind Saygus phones sentenced for fraud Axios

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Trafficking

🚚 Drug traffickers take hold in Peru's Amazon as Indigenous leader killed Reuters

🚚 Interconnected and digital: how migrant smugglers and human traffickers operate Europol

🚚 Thai government to meet banks over alleged transactions for Myanmar arms Reuters

"The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose." --James Baldwin

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