Happy Monday! It’s June 12, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: George Soros cedes control to younger son, William Barr says Trump is toast after damning indictment, Southern Poverty Law Center targets Moms for Liberty, how billions in COVID relief was stolen or wasted, and much more…

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🎯George Soros cedes control of empire to younger son. Soros’ business holdings include his nonprofit Open Society Foundations, which is active in more than 120 countries around the world and funnels about $1.5 billion annually to certain groups. [more]

Top Stories

🔸William Barr says Trump may be ‘toast’ after ‘very damning’ indictment. The former attorney general pushed back against Trump’s narrative that he is the victim of a broader government “hoax”, saying: “Presenting Trump as a victim here, the victim of a witch-hunt, is ridiculous.” [more]

🔸Moms for Liberty co-founder torches SPLC's 'extremist' label: 'We're not going to stop'. The SPLC’s 2022 Year In Hate and Extremism report added the label to the Florida-based non-profit Tuesday, saying it can be "spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, ‘We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT.’" [more]

🔸How Billions in Covid Relief Aid Was Stolen or Wasted. Federal loan applicants weren’t cross-checked against a Treasury Department database that would have raised red flags about sketchy borrowers. [more]

🔸IE INSIGHTS: Top 10 Forms of Corruption [more]

🔸JPMorgan settles lawsuit with Jeffrey Epstein victims. JPMorgan Chase reached a tentative settlement with victims of Jeffrey Epstein, one of two lawsuits alleging the nation's largest bank ignored warnings about its longtime client and facilitated his alleged sex trafficking. [more]

🔸Mt. Gox's Hackers Are 2 Russian Nationals. The U.S. Department of Justice charged Russian nationals Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner with the 2014 Mt. Gox hack, at the time one of the biggest thefts in crypto history. [more]

🔸Chinese Parts Help Iran Supply Drones to Russia Quickly. After Ukraine downed an Iranian drone, a Chinese part in the weapon showed it had been built and sent to Russian forces in three months. [more]

🔸Biden’s Iran Gamble. Iran could produce its first bomb’s worth of weapons-grade uranium in a matter of weeks and material for subsequent bombs shortly thereafter. [more]

🔸North Korea Funds half Its Ballistic Missile Program With ‘Crypto Heists’. Hackers pose as recruiters, tempting potential candidates with raises while sending them malicious code that opens up their company’s systems. [more]

🔸India agency sends notices to Deutsche, HSBC, Citi in Xiaomi royalty case. The banks received notices because they allegedly allowed foreign remittances described as royalty payments without conducting due diligence and obtaining necessary documentation. [more]

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IN THE NEWS

Russia & China

🔸New U.S. intelligence shows Russia’s deepening defense ties with Iran. The Biden administration aims to disrupt the “full-scale defense partnership that is harmful to Ukraine.” [more]

🔸EU Widens Sanctions Net for Russian Business Owners and Families. New EU sanctions criteria expand the list of people that can be targeted to include “leading businesspersons operating in Russia and their immediate family members” or other people that benefit from them. [more]

🔸US bans imports from China-based Ninestar over Uyghurs. The United States on Friday banned imports from China-based printer maker Ninestar Corporation and its eight Zhuhai-based subsidiaries over alleged human rights abuses in China. [more]

🔸Pakistan gets first shipment of Russian crude under discount deal. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calls the arrival of the Russian crude a ‘transformative day’ for the crisis-ridden country. [more]

Middle East

🔸How torture, deception and inaction underpin the UAE’s thriving sex trafficking industry. An underground network of suspected sex traffickers has taken refuge in the wealthy Gulf nation. The U.S. State Department says efforts to identify and protect victims have fallen short. [more]

🔸Iraq to pay $2.76 billion in gas and electricity debt to Iran. Iraq has agreed to pay about $2.76 billion in gas and electricity debt to Iran after receiving a sanctions waiver from the United States. [more]

🔸After shock LIV Golf-PGA merger, what other sports are in the Saudis’ sights? The very fact that Saudi Arabia, under the guise of its sovereign wealth fund, can all but buy pro golf raises many questions, both moral and financial. [more]

🔸Latin America’s tyrants open their arms to Iran. No sooner had the world learned of a Chinese spying post in Cuba than Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi announced a “friendly” visit to Managua, Havana and Caracas. [more]

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Corruption & Financial Crime

🔸FBI Investigating Spy Ring’s Political Contributions. Prosecutors are scrutinizing a series of campaign contributions made by right-wing operatives who were part of a political spying operation based in Wyoming. [more]

🔸Nigeria’s central bank chief arrested after being suspended by president. The secret police had accused him of terrorism financing and economic crimes, but a judge ruled that it couldn’t provide evidence to support the allegations. [more]

🔸High Court battle begins over Ukrainian oligarchs accused of corruption. Privatbank has accused its former oligarch owners, Ukrainian billionaires Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov, of using sham loans and shell companies to orchestrate and cover up one of Europe’s largest ever banking frauds. [more]

"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." -- Terry Pratchett

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