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8/1/23

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Breaking News for Financial Crime Professionals

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Hello August!  It’s the 1st of the month, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: How Russian billionaires supply the Kremlin's army, SEC charges Hex founder with massive crypto fraud, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong comments on perils of SEC requests, how smugglers flood the U.S. with fake designer bags, and much more...

 

Plus: Sanctions & Enforcement - CFIUS Annual Report, Crypto AML Act, ISIS in Maldives, Russian disinformation, Bosnian Serbs, Putin opposition, and Swiss in Dubai.

Featured Story

 

🎯 Russian Billionaires Supply Kremlin’s Army, Military-Industrial Complex. At least 81 Russian billionaires have business links to Russia’s military or to annexed Ukrainian territories, independent investigative outlet Proekt reports. Moscow Times

 

Top Stories

 

💥 SEC Charges Hex Founder Richard Heart With $1 Billion Unregistered Securities Offering. Heart and PulseChain are also both facing charges for using $12 million to buy luxury goods, including a 555-carat black diamond called "The Enigma." Decrypt

 

💥 Coinbase CEO says complying with SEC request would have been the ‘end of the crypto industry in the US’. The Securities and Exchange Commission asked Coinbase to halt trading on all cryptocurrencies except for bitcoin before it sued the company in June. CNN

 

💥 How smugglers flood the US with Chinese fake designer bags – hidden under umbrellas. Here is the trek from conception to production to transport to sale of the sketchy goods that bargain-basement consumers find irresistible. NY Post

 

💥 Russia Takes Its Ukraine Information War Into Video Games. The games and adjacent discussion sites like Discord and Steam are becoming online platforms for Russian agitprop, circulating to new, mostly younger audiences a torrent of propaganda. NY Times

 

💥 China’s Tech Distress Grows as U.S. Chip Sanctions Bite. The distress signals show Washington’s nine-month-old policy of denying Beijing access to the most advanced semiconductors and the tools to make them is starting to work. WSJ

 

💥 US, Europe Are Growing Alarmed by China’s Rush Into Legacy Chips. While the US rules introduced last October slowed down China’s development of advanced chipmaking capabilities, they left largely untouched the country’s ability to use techniques older than 14-nanometers. Bloomberg

 

💥 Spanish police arrest Mexican drug cartel kingpin in Madrid. The Spanish authorities collaborated with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the Colombian National Police in the second biggest blow against the Zetas in Spain. Politico

 

💥 Inside the Wild International Battle Over An Abandoned Superyacht. In an inlet in Antigua, surrounded by touristy hotels and kitschy cafes, a yacht nearly three times the size of a basketball court and twice the price of a luxury private jet sits unused, awaiting its fate. Daily Beast

 

💥 The U.S.’s Hopes In Iraq Have Ended With The Oil-For-Gas Deal With Iran. The U.S. has for years been giving Iraq tens of billions of dollars to help with its finances on the specific condition that the country reduces its imports of gas and electricity from Iran eventually to zero. Oil Price

 

💥 Bolivia says huge manhunt closing in on accused drug lord. Bolivia has mobilized more than 2,250 security agents in a massive operation closing in on an alleged cocaine trafficker who has ricocheted around the world to elude capture. AFP

IN THE NEWS

Russia

 

🇷🇺 Putin is forming mysterious private armies across Russia to protect himself from Wagner soldiers Insider

 

🇷🇺 Why One Country Is Struggling to Break Away From Russian Gas NY Times

 

🇷🇺 Ruble and Tether trade volume spiked when Wagner Group went rogue Protos

 

🇷🇺 How Russia is evading sanctions to keep $10 billion worth of seized Boeing and Airbus planes flying Insider

China

 

🇨🇳 Iran's oil shipments to China triple in three years despite sanctions Al-Monitor

 

🇨🇳 China Unveils New Head of Rocket Force Amid Reported Graft Probe Bloomberg

 

🇨🇳 China's oil and uranium business in Niger Reuters

 

🇨🇳 Unassuming warehouse in California turns out to be illegal Chinese-run virus laboratory Daily Mail

Crypto

 

🔑 Judge Rejects Ripple Ruling Precedent in Denying Terraform Labs' Motion to Dismiss SEC Lawsuit CoinDesk

 

🔑 Crypto Hacks and Exploits Cost Traders $303M in July; Worst Month of 2023 CoinDesk

 

🔑 Feds Say They Want SBF in Jail for Intimidating Witnesses New York Magazine

Sanctions & Enforcement

 

🚨 Treasury Releases CFIUS Annual Report U.S. Treasury Department

 

🚨 U.S. Senators Unveil Toughest Crypto AML/CFT Bill Yet Newsroom 

 

🚨 US imposes sanctions on 20 ISIS and Al Qaeda operatives in Maldives The National

 

🚨 EU sanctions individuals, organizations connected to Russian disinformation network The Record

 

🚨 U.S. sanctions four Bosnian Serb top officials for undermining peace deal Reuters

 

🚨 UK imposes sanctions on Russian judges for sentencing of Putin opponent Reuters

 

🚨 Dubai Financial Services Authority fines Swiss bank over money laundering failings The National

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken

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