Hello Wednesday!  It’s February 28, and we’re tracking today's top stories: $4.5B Bitfinex launderer joins government team, Russian oil tankers behaving strangely off Greece, ransomware gang blackmails children's hospital, authorities crush multi-billion dollar money laundering scheme across Europe, and much more...

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Featured Story

🎯 He Laundered $4.5B in Bitcoin. Now He’s a US Government Witness. Ilya Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty in the Bitfinex case last year, is now a U.S. witness vs Bitcoin Fog. CoinDesk

🙄 It’s Time to Scrap AML/KYC Entirely CoinDesk

Top Stories

🌎 Russian Oil Tankers Behave Strangely After Latest US Sanctions. Two oil tankers appeared to stop what they were doing off the coast of Greece just a few days after the US Treasury imposed fresh sanctions on 14 Russian ships. Bloomberg

📌 The Sanctions Are Working – Just Ask Russia’s Friends Wilson Center

🌎 Ransomware gang seeks $3.4M after attacking children’s hospital. The hospital serves 239K children each year, treating kids with cancer and blood disorders. Record

🌎 Full-scale action against 2B euro money laundering network via Lithuanian financial institution. Since 2017, billions have been laundered by two main suspects via a worldwide web of shell companies. Europol

🌎 Treasury Sanctions Guatemala’s Los Pochos Drug Trafficking Organization. Los Pochos supplies multi-ton quantities of cocaine to multiple high-level Mexican cocaine trafficking cells. U.S. Treasury

🌎 Hunter Biden’s Chinese Business Partners Keep Quiet in Impeachment Effort. Missing from the Republicans’ witness list are Chinese business partners who funded Bidens’ most lucrative overseas deals. WSJ

🌎 Applied Materials Receives Subpoena From SEC on China Shipments. The company is under U.S. criminal investigation for evading export restrictions on China's top chipmaker SMIC. Reuters

🌎 Ukraine Charges Key Figure in Arms Trade With Corruption. The war helped Serhiy Pashinsky rehabilitate a troubled reputation. Now he faces charges related to accusations about his past. NYT

🌎 Chief of NJ Fund Pleads Guilty Over $658M Ponzi Scheme. Thomas Salzano was the "shadow chief executive officer" of National Realty Investment Advisors LLC. North Jersey

🌎 Pablo Escobar of the Sahara reveals corruption within Morocco’s ruling class. Accusations launched from prison by a Malian drug lord have led to the arrest of senior officials linked to soccer, politics and construction. El País

🌎 Texas-Style Money Laundering. FinCEN’s proposed real estate rule could help investigators flag dubious deals – but there’s a big loophole. Texas Observer

📌 Proposals Regarding False or Misleading Statements Concerning PCAOB Registration and Oversight PCAOB

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 Why Putin Won’t Get His $300 Billion Back Bloomberg

🇷🇺 North Korea Speeds Up Pace of Secretive Weapons Shipments to Putin Bloomberg

🇷🇺 Russia jails Ukrainian man for 11-1/2 years for attempting to buy secret missile parts Reuters

🇷🇺 Russia's Space Agency Forced to Sell Off Assets as Sanctions Take Toll Newsweek

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China

🇨🇳 Why China Was Never Held Accountable for the Covid-19 Lab Leak NR

🇨🇳 Chinese firm Fujian Jinhua cleared of US allegations that it stole trade secrets Reuters

🇨🇳 Hong Kong Prepares Sweeping Rules to Foil Stealthy Crypto Purchases Bloomberg

🇨🇳 Biden issues executive order to better shield Americans’ sensitive data from China AP

Much more news at Illicit Edge!

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 In-House Counsel Bear Burden of Today’s Financial Crime Networks Bloomberg Law

💸 Malaysia court reinstates abuse of power charges against ex-PM Muhyiddin Reuters

💸 Cycling team suspended for fraud after dressing mechanic as rider because they were short a cyclist NBC

💸 Thousands of Ugandans may sue over U.S. security work in Iraq, Afghanistan Semafor

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 FTX founder SBF asks for a 6.5-year sentence, tells prison guards to invest in Solana Cointelegraph

🔐 AI is Uncle Sam’s new secret weapon to fight fraud CNN

🔐 Brazil’s Wildly Popular Instant-Payment System Is Going Global Bloomberg

🔐 IRS hires ConsenSys, Binance US, and TaxBit executives to strengthen crypto supervision Crypto News

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Trafficking

🚚 Arizona GOP advances bill legalizing killing undocumented migrants for trespassing Axios

🚚 Warlord involved in hundreds of murders is repatriated to Colombia after serving a US drug sentence AP

🚚 California seized enough fentanyl last year to kill everyone in the world 'nearly twice over' LAT

Much more news at Illicit Edge!

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