Greetings!  It’s July 24, and we’re tracking today's top stories: Digital banking startup Mercury abruptly shuttered service for startups in Ukraine, how K-pop might lead to downfall of Korea’s richest self-made tech mogul, hackers leak documents from Pentagon, Iranian extradited to U.S. for illicitly shipping electronics to Iran, and much more...  

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🎯 Digital banking startup Mercury abruptly shuttered service for startups in Ukraine. It has become “too complex” to support the country, given current U.S. sanctions programs. TechCrunch 

Top Stories

🌎 How K-pop might lead to the downfall of Korea’s richest self-made tech mogul. Kakao Corp. is huge in Korea, but its founder now finds himself fighting to stay out of jail. Verge

🌎 Hackers Leak Documents From Pentagon. Hackers have leaked internal documents stolen from Leidos, one of the largest IT services providers to the U.S. government. Bloomberg

🌎 Iranian National Extradited to U.S. for Illicitly Shipping Electronics to Iran. Mousaei appeared in a Chicago federal court after being extradited from the UK, facing charges for his role in a conspiracy to evade U.S. export restrictions. DOJ

🌎 Russia is lying about its economic strength: sanctions are working – and we need more. The signs are clear that not everything is as rosy in Putin’s Soviet-style war economy as Moscow would have us believe. Guardian

🇷🇺 EU Eyes Sanctions Tweaks to Reassure U.S. on Russian Assets Plan Bloomberg

🌎 The Limits of the China Chip Ban. Washington’s Export Controls Could End Up Helping Beijing. Foreign Affairs

🧐 Global chip makers’ China revenue share has doubled since U.S. imposed export controls CNBC

🌎 Caravan of 3K migrants hope to cross southern border before Trump win. Trump and his pick for VP have vowed to crack down on migrant crossings if they win the White House. NYP

🌎 He Was an Online Drug Lord. Now He’s a Crypto Entrepreneur. After Blake Benthall was arrested for running Silk Road 2.0, the infamous illegal drug bazaar, things didn’t go the way you might expect. NYT

🌎 Palestinian Government Paying $16M a Month to Imprisoned Terrorists, Including Hamas Fighters. Thousands of terrorist prisoners newly eligible for 'pay-to-slay' payments following Oct. 7. Free Beacon

🌎 Reliance Gets US Approval to Resume Crude Imports from Venezuela. The U.S. Treasury declined to comment, and Reliance did not reply to email seeking comment. Bloomberg

🌎 Sweden’s Alecta Faces Possible Sanctions After $3.2 Billion Loss. The fund’s 39% stake in the Swedish landlord is also the subject of a bribery investigation. Bloomberg

IN THE NEWS

Sanctions & Regs

📌 FinCEN Updates Frequently Asked Questions on Beneficial Ownership Information FinCEN

📌 U.S. Foreign Investment Watchdog Reports Major Uptick in Penalties WSJ

📌 Treasury Implements REPO for Ukrainians Act Reporting Requirement U.S. Treasury

📌 U.S. unleashes more sanctions targeting Mexican drug cartels over fentanyl trafficking UPI

📌 Imposing Sanctions on ISIS Affiliates in Africa U.S. Treasury

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Russia

🇷🇺 UniCredit Sets Aside €228 Million After Russia Asset Seizure Bloomberg

🇷🇺 Latvia appeals removal of sanctions on Russians Fridman and Aven Reuters

🇷🇺 UK ship insurer sees problems paying claims involving sanctions-hit Russian provider Reuters

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China

🇨🇳 China Brings Official From Tibet to Lead Banker Crackdown Bloomberg

🇨🇳 Europe Still Vies With China as Top Market for Russia’s Pipeline Gas Bloomberg

🇨🇳 Hamas and Fatah sign agreement in Beijing ‘ending’ their division CNN

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Crop Gangsters: Million-Dollar Farm Ponzi Collapses Under Flood of Fish AgWeb

💸 Texas Woman Is Sentenced to 15 Years in Fraud Scheme AP

💸 Admiral’s romance with Pentagon official could be central in bribery case WaPo

💸 U.S. DOJ reaches agreement with ex-1MDB lawyer Jasmine Loo Straits Times

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Trafficking

🚚 Wild sharks off Brazil coast test positive for cocaine Guardian

🚚 France probed migrant communities to fight ISIS-K threat to Olympics Reuters

🚚 India slashes import tax on gold, silver to tackle smuggling Reuters

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