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Happy Monday!  It’s April 15, and we’re tracking top stories to start the week: Nine busted in $686M Ponzi scheme that targeted medical marijuana investors, FinCEN issues notice on counterfeit passports for ID theft, Putin's secret fortune at risk, White House ripped over sanctions waiver that put billions in Iran’s hands, global sanctions rundown, and much more...  

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🎯 Nine busted in $686M Ponzi scheme that targeted medical marijuana investors. 9 gang members have been busted around the world for swindling people in 35 countries by getting them to invest in a non-existent medicinal marijuana business. NYP 

Top Stories

🌎 FinCEN Issues Notice on the Use of Counterfeit U.S. Passport Cards to Perpetrate Identity Theft. Since 2018, DSS has identified a concerning increase in the use of counterfeit U.S. passport cards by fraudsters to gain access to victim accounts at banks nationwide. FinCEN

🌎 Putin's Secret Fortune May Be at Risk in World's 'Most Neutral' Country. Switzerland has frozen almost $9B in Russian assets since the beginning of the war. Newsweek

🌎 White House ripped over sanctions waiver that critics say put billions of dollars in Iran’s hands. Some senators called it “unfathomable” that Biden believes that making the funds potentially available to Iran serves US national security interests. NYP

🚩 Kirby Defends Biden Easing Sanctions On Iran Leading To Billions In Oil Revenue Daily Wire

🌎 Operationalizing a Doctrine For U.S. Economic Statecraft. Chronic staffing shortages, expanded mandates, and uncompetitive compensation typify the challenges facing the agencies tasked with executing U.S. economic power. War on the Rocks

🌎 Lawmakers raise national security concerns and seek to disconnect a major Chinese firm from U.S. pharmaceutical interests. WuXi AppTec is one of several companies identified as threats to the security of individual Americans’ genetic information and U.S. IP NYT

🌎 Russia and China trade new copper disguised as scrap to skirt taxes, sanctions. Copper wire rod was shredded in the Xinjiang Uyghur region by an intermediary to make it hard to distinguish from scrap. Reuters

🌎 Infiltrating ransomware gangs on the dark web. Jon DiMaggio, a former intelligence analyst, has used fake personas to communicate with ransomware gangs on the dark web. 60 Min

🌎 What Is Donald Trump’s Stance on Seizing Russian Assets? If Trump just cares about American self-interest, and opposes sending our money overseas, why wouldn’t he want to seize Russian assets?  NY Mag

🌎 Powerful Senator Crafts TikTok Crackdown: Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell has deep experience with tech legislation, while frustrating some colleagues. WSJ

🚩 Ex-TikTok employees say TikTok worked closely with its China-based parent Fortune

🌎 ‘A Mess’: Harvard Med School Professor Plagiarized in Expert Report. A federal judge determined that Dipak Panigrahy plagiarized significant portions of an export report he submitted in a class action lawsuit.  Harvard Crimson

🌎 How a Money Laundering Crew Moved Millions Through FanDuel. While sports betting has opened up for fans around the country, it has also introduced a greater attack surface for money laundering. Court Watch

🚀 Join Sigma360 for a Groundbreaking Live Panel on Adverse Media Screening Strategies: April 18th!

IN THE NEWS

Sanctions

💥 House plans raft of Iran sanctions votes after attack on Israel Axios

💥 New Sanctions on Russia to Drive Even More Metals Sales to China Bloomberg

💥 Italy open to new G7 sanctions on Israel's enemies Reuters

💥 UK sanctions businesses funding Sudanese conflict Reuters

💥 Venezuela’s sham elections demand new U.S. sanctions, including seizing Miami assets MH

💥 Bosnian Tycoon With Ties To Dodik Posthumously Removed From U.S. Sanctions List RFE

Much more news at Illicit Edge!

Russia

🇷🇺 Londongrad forever? Why the UK may never seize Russian assets Politico

🇷🇺 The U.S. Is Trying to Cripple Russia’s Vast Arctic LNG Project WSJ

🇷🇺 Metals Spike on LME After Russian Supply Hit by US, UK Sanctions Bloomberg

🇷🇺 Rusal says new Western sanctions won't hurt its aluminum supply Reuters

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China

🇨🇳 TikTok referred to AML authorities Financial Review

🇨🇳 Chinese Company Under Congressional Scrutiny Makes Key U.S. Drugs NYT

🇨🇳 China indicates man executed for spying had sold secrets to US Straits Times

🇨🇳 China supporting Russia in massive military expansion Guardian

🇨🇳 China indicates man executed for spying had sold secrets to US Straits Times

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Hedge fund trader Shah behind $1.8B Danish tax fraud Reuters

💸 Nigeria Recovers $27M In Corruption Probe AFP

💸 Corruption or Just Politics? Supreme Court Weighs New Bribery Cases WSJ

💸 Venezuela Arrests Oil, Gas PDVSA Officials on Graft Probe Bloomberg

💸 India's Modi warns of 'black money' in political funding Reuters

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 BingX exchange openly supports Iranian users, defying sanctions Cointelegraph

🔐 The US Government Has a Microsoft Problem Wired

🔐 IRS investigation chief expects uptick in crypto tax evasion this year Cointelegraph

🔐 Change Healthcare Faces Another Ransomware Threat—and It Looks Credible Wired

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Trafficking

🚚 Inside Asia’s Toughest Drug Cartel — And the CIA Plot to Disrupt It Rolling Stone

🚚 Chiapas, captive territory El Pais

🚚 Migration’s Human Toll Overwhelms Border County in TX. WaPo

🚚 ‘Secrets of the Hells Angels’ Tells Real-Life Tales of the Country’s Most Notorious Motorcycle Gang Rolling Stone

See risk as it happens, anywhere in the world.

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