Plus: Wall Street Giants Turned Bloodshed Into Billion-Dollar Bonuses As Clients Fled Russia...
View in browser

8/3/23

Illicit Edge logo

Breaking News for Financial Crime Professionals

traxer-bkleQRbz4BQ-unsplash

Hello!  It's August 3, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: The mysterious Trump-McCarthy January 6th call, prosecutors worry about Binance bank run if fraud charges are brought, the IRS-Malta pension probe, Wall Street's ruble fortune, and much more...

 

Enjoying Illicit Edge?  Share our newsletter with a friend who can subscribe here!

Featured Story

 

🎯 Indictment Mystery: Did Someone Spill About the Trump-McCarthy Jan. 6 Call? It’s one of the more intriguing mysteries about the new Trump indictment: Why are details about Trump’s call with McCarthy on Jan. 6 unsourced? Daily Beast  

 

Top Stories

 

🌎 U.S. prosecutors worry Binance charges could cause run on exchange. Federal prosecutors worry that if they indict Binance, it could cause a run on the exchange similar to the one that befell now bankrupt platform FTX. Semafor

 

🌎 IRS Visits to Wealthy Americans Drive Malta Pension Probe. One summons sought a wide range of records such as a list of all clients, including their name, social security number, address and phone number, and more. Bloomberg

 

🌎 Wall Street Reaped Ruble Fortune on Clients Fleeing From Russia. To pull it off, Wall Street firms turned to an obscure source with which they had rarely traded dollars before: lenders based in countries deemed “friendly” by Russia and not sanctioned by the US. Bloomberg

 

🌎 SEC Tells Wall Street Brokers to Clean Up Their Anti-Money-Laundering Controls. The SEC’s examinations unit issued a risk alert saying it had observed broker-dealers that weren’t putting enough resources or staffing into their AML programs. WSJ

 

🌎 Head of NYC anti-violence program busted in massive upstate gun, drug sweep. Cops raided his Yonkers home last week and allegedly found drugs, more than $165,000 in cash and two illegal guns. NY Post

 

🌎 DOJ arrests two drug trafficking groups in massive drug bust with $300K in cash, fentanyl-laced opioids. The three criminal complaints charge two separate drug trafficking organizations whose members supplied drugs to customers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio along with Chicago's South Side. Fox News

 

🌎 Accounting firms accused of ‘operating with impunity’ as regulator flags growing number of flawed audits. The U.S. regulator tasked with ensuring audit quality has found an uptick in deficiencies three years in a row. OCCRP

 

🌎 A Senator’s New Wife and Her Old Friends Draw Prosecutors’ Attention. Menendez, the 69-year-old Democratic chair of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, is under investigation by the Justice Department for the second time in less than a decade. NY Times

 

🌎 Iranian government 'using research partnerships to develop arms industry'. The UK government is being urged to crack down on university collaborations that allow Iran to acquire sensitive research through the back door. New Arab

 

🌎 SocGen reaches settlement with U.S. regulators over messaging probe. The Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021 began examining how Wall Street banks were keeping track of employees' digital communications. Reuters

IN THE NEWS

China

 

🇨🇳 Binance did monthly transactions worth $90 billion in banned China market Reuters

 

🇨🇳 China Spooks Commodity Traders With Probes Into Shady Deals Bloomberg

 

🇨🇳 ByteDance’s CapCut app secretly reaps massive amounts of user data The Record

 

🇨🇳 Chinese Investors Warm to Sweetened U.S. Cash-for-Visa Program WSJ

Russia

 

🇷🇺 Microsoft says Russia-linked hackers behind dozens of Teams phishing attacks Reuters

 

🇷🇺 EU warns that Russia aims to create new dependencies with cheap grain Reuters

 

🇷🇺 Russia-linked cybercriminals target school for children with learning difficulties The Record

 

🇷🇺 Russia adds Norway to list of countries 'unfriendly' to its diplomats UPI

Corruption & Financial Crime

 

💵 Larry Fink’s Bet on Saudi Oil Money Is Also His Latest E.S.G. Woe NY Times

 

💵 Altice USA Replaces Procurement Head on Corruption Probe Bloomberg

 

💵 Ken Paxton to appear in court in securities fraud case hearing The Hill

 

💵 AMLC freezes assets of Teves, 12 others after terrorist tag CNN Philippines

Crypto & Cyber

 

🔐 Binance’s CZ warns crypto community about emerging scam CoinDesk

 

💵 Microsoft Flags Growing Cybersecurity Concerns for Major Sporting Events Hacker News

 

💵 Microsoft comes under blistering criticism for “grossly irresponsible” security Ars Technica

 

💵 Phishers Exploit Salesforce's Email Services Zero-Day in Targeted Facebook Campaign Hacker News

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." --Bertrand Russell

📩

Share Illicit Edge with friends!

They can subscribe here for free and never miss a story.

The Illicit Edge, P.O. Box 20559, New York, NY 10025

Manage preferences