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Hello!  It’s May 29, and we’re tracking today's top stories: HSBC completes sale of Russian unit to Expobank, Fitch downgrades TD Bank outlook to negative on AML issues, FTX executive Ryan Salame sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, Treasury sanctions creators of 911 S5 proxy botnet, and much more...

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🎯 HSBC completes sale of Russian unit to Expobank. European banks have been under growing pressure from DC and the European Central Bank to extricate themselves from Russia. Reuters

Top Stories

🌎 Fitch downgrades TD Bank outlook to negative on AML issues. TD reported profits down 22%, largely because of $615M AML charge. Canadian Press

🌎 Former FTX executive Ryan Salame sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. Salame pleaded guilty to making tens of millions of dollars in unlawful campaign donations. CNN

🚩 FTX examiner’s report reveals lingering exposure for law firm Fenwick & West Reuters

🌎 Treasury Sanctions Creators of 911 S5 Proxy Botnet. 911 S5’s reliability and extremely low prices quickly made it one of the most popular services in the cybercrime underground. Krebs

🌎 Blacklisted Chinese Companies Rebrand as American to Dodge Crackdown. Firms tagged as military entities use new names and licensing deals to try to keep their businesses going in U.S. WSJ

🌎 China threatens trade with countries after feuds. They're calling 'the firm' for help. The U.S. State Department has an eight-person team to provide help to countries cut off from Chinese trade. AP

🌎 Too Many US Goods Still Getting to Russia. Export controls have been difficult to enforce because producers lack the large internal compliance departments that have sprung up in banking over the last two decades of U.S. sanctions policy. Bloomberg

🚩 U.S. Treasury's No. 2 Adeyemo visits Ukraine for talks on tighter Russia sanctions Reuters

🚩 Enforcer of US sanctions against Russia joins law firm White & Case Reuters

🌎 Bad Boy for Life. For decades, Sean “Diddy” Combs was hip-hop’s boisterous showman. Now, dozens of former friends, employees, and Bad Boy artists allege an abusive, violent figure behind the façade. Rolling Stone

🌎 Pro-ISIS group posts ominous message showing Long Island cricket stadium set to host World Cup. The terror group is known for using chaos to fuel its sinister efforts across the globe. NBC

🌎 White House says ICC sanctions "not the right answer". Republicans are pushing for tough U.S. sanctions, but Democrats want to explore other options. Axios

🌎 Gold bar Bob Menendez trial judge rules feds can’t use texts related to Egypt aid debates as evidence. Prosecutors say Menendez used his position to benefit the governments of both Egypt and Qatar. NYP

🌎 Venezuela Withdraws Invitation To EU To Observe July Vote. Earlier this month the EU imposed sanctions against 50 Venezuelan government officials. AP

🚩 U.S. eases economic restrictions on Cuba AP

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 Russia sanctions ‘not really effective’ outside west, says Dubai trade hub chief FT

🇷🇺 Growing armada shipping sanctioned oil burns dirty fuel in a setback for clean-up efforts Reuters

🇷🇺 EU Weighs Proposal to Sanction Russian Oil Tanker Insurer Ingosstrakh Bloomberg

🇷🇺 Georgia parliament overrides president to pass Kremlin-style ‘foreign agents’ bill, defying Western pressure CNN

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China

🇨🇳 How the U.S. ignored a chance to make TikTok safer WaPo

🇨🇳 Chinese Firms Once Embraced, Now Shunned in US on Security Fears Bloomberg

🇨🇳 All that’s left: A self-defeating semiconductor export tactic for China C4ISRNET

🇨🇳 Shein Promised to Have a Big U.S. IPO. Its China Roots Got in the Way. WSJ

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 After Kansas bank collapsed, former CEO admits to embezzling $47M for crypto scheme TCJ

💸 Native American groups allege Met Museum curator is heritage-faking ‘Pretendian’ NYP

💸 Sean Kingston Facing 10 Charges in Florida Fraud Case Rolling Stone

💸 US ex-official pleads guilty in heist to steal and sell water with secret pipe AP

💸 Israeli Man Admits Conspiring with Convicted Ponzi Schemer to Defraud

Investors of Tens Of Millions DOJ

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 Coinbase, Circle, Kraken Join Crypto's New 'Neighborhood Watch' for Cyberthreats CoinDesk

🔐 Microsoft Uncovers 'Moonstone Sleet' — New North Korean Hacker Group Hacker News

🔐 Private-Equity Giants Near Settlements With SEC Over Texting Violations WSJ

🔐 Google won’t comment on massive leak of its search algorithm documentation Verge

🔐 Judge dismisses Debt Box case, orders SEC to pay $1.8M in fees Cointelegraph

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Trafficking

🚚 University of Florida employee implicated in illegal plot to ship drugs to China AP

🚚 Texas police arrest fugitive illegally in US, wanted for murder by Interpol Fox

🚚 Shocking new border statistics reveal the surprising countries migrants are flocking to the US from Daily Mail

🚚 EU, Italy Help Battling Human Trafficking in the Balkans OCCRP

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." --Steve Jobs

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