Happy Monday!  It’s March 4, and we’re tracking top stories to start the week: KPMG fined over M&C Saatchi audit failures, Russia's backdoor for battlefield goods, inside one of the world's most dangerous games, Alabama ruling halts U.S. Treasury's beneficial ownership mission, and much more...

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🎯 KPMG fined £1.5M over M&C Saatchi audit failures. The FRC announced sanctions against the big-four financial firm and auditor Adrian Wilcox, three years after probe first launched. Independent

Top Stories

🌎 Russia’s Backdoor for Battlefield Goods From China is Central Asia. Trade routes snaking through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are among the many paths into Russia for dual-use goods. WSJ

🌎 Judge’s Ruling Sets Back Law Meant to Fight Money Laundering. An Alabama judge barred the government from collecting certain company ownership data to help the Treasury Department identify money launderers. NYT

🌎 ‘It’s Like I’m Dancing With Death’: Inside One of the World’s Most Dangerous Games. Colombia’s corralejas bull fights are a bloody free-for-all where only the humans die. Rolling Stone

💥 Treasury Sanctions Zimbabwe’s President for Corruption, Human Rights Abuse U.S. Treasury

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🌎 The former chairman of the state-owned Bank of Beijing investigated for corruption. He’s the latest official probed for graft as part of President Xi’s decade-long anti-corruption campaign partly to remove his political rivals. AP

🌎 Property Tycoon Accused of Embezzling $12B in Vietnam’s Biggest Fraud Case. There were “ghost” companies, payoffs to government officials and a bank illegally controlled that disbursed loans worth 11% of the nation’s 2022 GDP. Bloomberg

🌎 Lawyers who voided Elon Musk's pay as excessive want $6B fee, payable in Tesla stock. Tesla is being asked to pay the fee because it benefited from the return of Musk's pay package. Reuters

🌎 How a ‘Body Farm’ Might Help Tackle Fentanyl Abuse. The U.S. government brought Mexican coroners to America to learn how to detect fatal overdoses, hoping to show that fentanyl kills in Mexico, too. NYT

🌎 Chinese Gangs Use Cryptocurrencies to Launder Billions. The gangs use crypto to launder profits of drug dealing and illegal gambling and have made huge amounts from investment scams that promise easy returns in crypto markets. WSJ

🌎 Ex-Trump Organization CFO to plead guilty to perjury. Weisselberg said in October that he was not involved in an incorrect valuation of Trump's Manhattan penthouse. Reuters

🌎 Oil Trader Gunvor to Pay $661M to Resolve Bribe Cases. A Geneva commodities trader earned more than $384M in profits from the business it corruptly obtained related to Ecuadorian oil company. AP

🌎 Co-defendant in Sen. Bob Menendez corruption case pleads guilty. Joe Uribe pleaded guilty to seven counts including conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud, and obstruction of justice. CNBC

🚀 More news at Illicit Edge!

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 Canada Sanctions Six Russians Over Navalny Death AFP

🇷🇺 Russia's Oil Is Getting Stranded at Sea Newsweek

🇷🇺 The ASX-listed miner backed by Australian billionaires fighting Russian sanctions SMH

🇷🇺 Tusk Urges EU Sanctions On Food Imports From Russia, Belarus AFP

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China

🇨🇳 US funding bill blocks China from buying oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve Reuters

🇨🇳 U.S. Defeat in Micron Trade-Secrets Case Reveals Struggle Countering Beijing WSJ

🇨🇳 Hunter Biden’s Chinese legal ‘client’ threatens to sue unless first son pays back $1 million NYP

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 NerdWallet says it did not file for bankruptcy, citing a fraudulent filing CNBC

💸 Nobel peace laureate known as 'banker to the poor' faces jail in Bangladesh NBC

💸 EU anti-fraud office probes €200M loan to Budapest Airport Politico

💸 Spanish police crack counterfeit 100-euro note operation. Reuters

💸 £50M London property empire 'bought by Azeri tycoon via extraordinarily complex money laundering operation' The Standard

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 How crypto investigators uncover scammers’ blockchain billions, scale of money laundering in Asia SCMP

🔐 The Catch-22 of U.S. Crypto Regulation CoinDesk

🔐 US indicts Iranian man in cyber-espionage campaign against defense contractors Record

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Trafficking

🚚 How faith-based charities are complicit with migrant traffickers NYP

🚚 Thailand facilitates transfer of 900 scam victims from Myanmar to China Reuters

🚚 Senegalese migrants illegally crossing US border relying on TikTok, WhatsApp to plan out their journeys NYP

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