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Hello Monday! It’s April 22, and we’re tracking top stories to start your week: Congress passes bill that could unlock billions in frozen Russian assets, Bulgaria seizes heroin worth $8.5M in truck heading from Iran, Pakistan protests 'erroneous' U.S. sanctions on Chinese firms over missile program, billions in dirty money flies under the radar at world's busiest airports, and much more...

🚀 Catch up on all the news any time at Illicit Edge!

Featured Story

🎯 Congress passes bill that could unlock billions in frozen Russian assets. More than $6B of the $300B in frozen Russian assets are sitting in U.S. banks. NBC 

Top Stories

🌎 Bulgaria seizes heroin worth $8.5M in truck heading from Iran to Western Europe. Bulgaria has taken massive steps in recent years to prevent drug trafficking. AP

🌎 Pakistan protests 'erroneous' U.S. sanctions. The reaction came a day after DC imposed sanctions on three Chinese companies and one Belarus-based firm for links to Islamabad’s missile program. VOA

🌎 Billions in Dirty Money Flies Under the Radar at World’s Busiest Airports. The Heathrow-to-Dubai flights have two big money laundering features: One airport doesn’t scan outbound luggage for cash and the other welcomes sacks of it. WSJ

The Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at RUSI becomes the Centre for Finance and Security (CFS)

Since the think tank programme’s inception in 2014, the geopolitical landscape has rapidly evolved and finance has become an increasingly important dimension of global security, ushering in the name change and a raft of new cutting-edge research. 

To learn more about upcoming research and the activities that will take place as the centre celebrates its 10-year anniversary, check out the special edition episode of CFS’s Suspicious Transaction Report podcast here and sign up for CFS’s monthly newsletter here.

🌎 Tether Seeks to Boost Peer-to-Peer Payments on Telegram by Expanding Dollar, Gold Stablecoins to TON Network. The TON network has seen rapid growth recently helped by incentives for onboarding Telegram users. CoinDesk

📌 Tether Is the Most Used Stablecoin in Illicit Crypto Flows Bloomberg

🌎 Netanyahu Decries Reported U.S. Plan to Sanction Army Unit. Israeli Prime Minister condemns plan to sanction an ultra-Orthodox army battalion over human rights abuses in the West Bank. Bloomberg

🌎 The meteoric rise – and spectacular fall – of the Queen of Airbnb. Hosts weren't receiving their rent. Employees weren't being paid. Creditors came knocking. BI

🌎 The House TikTok bill just passed. Now what? The bill is heading into uncharted territory. Politico

📌 TikTok Set to Remove Executive Tasked With Fending Off U.S. Claims Bloomberg

🌎 U.S. Fines Thai Company SCG Plastics $20M Over Iran Sanctions. The move is the latest attempt by the U.S. to hit Iran financially, even as it works to dial down military tensions between Iran and Israel. AFP

📌 Coordinated Iran Sanctions Require Coordinated Enforcement Washington Institute

🌎 Real Estate Agents, Investment Advisers Chafe at New AML Rules. U.S. Treasury is looking to bring two new industries under regulations intended to stem the flow of illicit money. WSJ

📌 HK Monetary Authority takes disciplinary action against Hua Nan Commercial Bank BPG

IN THE NEWS

Russia & China

💥 German politician filmed taking Russian money Telegraph

💥 Glencore and Trafigura’s Sanctions Games Are Draining the LME Bloomberg

💥 Chinese doping scandal rocks Olympic swimming Yahoo!

💥 Commerce Secretary: China microchip threat a national security issue Axios

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 In Latest Gambling Scandal, Some See Glimpse of Sports’ Future NYT

💸 Meet the man exposing NYC's toll-dodging license plate cheats and their sneaky tricks Daily Mail

💸 HK accounting watchdog initiates probe into PwC audits of Evergrande SCMP

💸 Details about Jane Street's top-secret $1B trade revealed in court BI

💸 Hearings End In Panama Papers Money Laundering Trial AFP

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 FTX Investors Settle With Bankman-Fried to Pursue Promoters Bloomberg

🔐 Ransomware payments drop to record low of 28% in Q1 2024 Bleepingcomputer

🔐 Indian Man Pleads Guilty to Creating Spoofed Coinbase Website, Stealing $9.5M in Crypto CoinDesk

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Trafficking

🚚 Cartels infiltrating native reservations with fentanyl News Nation

🚚 Unprecedented wave of narco-violence stuns Argentina city AP

🚚 West African Sahel is becoming a drug smuggling corridor AP

CFCS At RUSI Has Changed Its Name - Here's Why

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