Hello Monday!  It's August 26, and we're tracking top stories to start your week: Putin seizes $100M from Google to fund Russia’s war machine, China’s AI engineers are secretly accessing banned Nvidia chips, inside the Hamptons million-dollar drug ring, battle over Iran’s terror financing, and much more...       

Featured Story

🎯 Putin seizes $100M from Google to fund Russia’s war machine. Google’s Russian entity declared bankruptcy in 2022, saying the Kremlin had seized funds, but it was unclear how much had been taken. Telegraph 

Top Stories

🌎 China’s AI Engineers Are Secretly Accessing Banned Nvidia Chips. Brokers are making overseas computing power available and offering a high degree of anonymity. WSJ

📌 IE Insights: U.S. Export Controls on China Face Determined Pushback Illicit Edge

🌎 Inside the Hamptons million-dollar drug ring where rich clients dined with dealers. The two men ran a cocaine delivery service that served high-end locations from Newtown Lane out to the Montauk Yacht Club. Daily Mail

🌎 The battle over Iran’s terror financing. It’s the Middle East’s quiet war: how can you cut Hezbollah off from its lifeblood – Iranian petrodollars? Politico

🌎 Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the ‘Mark Zuckerberg of Russia,’ detained at airport in France. Durov was wanted under a French arrest warrant for lack of moderation on Telegram which led to money laundering, drug trafficking, and more. CNN

🌎 Tanker Carrying Sanctioned Russian LNG Attempting Ship Transfer. The Pioneer, which was sanctioned by the U.S. on Friday, is currently anchored 19 miles northeast of Egypt’s Port Said. Bloomberg

💥 U.S. unveils massive tranche of sanctions targeting Russia CNN

💥 U.S. threatens sanctions against countries hosting Russian banks FT

🌎 Would a Group Opposed to Police Blow the Whistle on Its Founder? The leader of Raheem AI had a plan to hold law enforcement accountable, but his lavish expenditures derailed the organization. NYT

🌎 Suspect in $14B cryptocurrency pyramid scheme extradited to China. The rebate system was based on the number of new members each participant could recruit and the amount of money invested by the new recruits. Record

🌎 Washington must sanction the businesses backing Maduro in Venezuela. The question remains whether anyone has leverage over the strongman. Hill

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IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 Sanctions relief for hostages? It could save nine American lives. WaPo

🇷🇺 Argentina arrests Russian national in money laundering case linked to North Korea DLN

🇷🇺 Hungary's foreign minister accuses EU of disrupting oil supplies from Russia Reuters

🇷🇺 Ukraine Jittery Over Funding Delays From Frozen Russian Assets Bloomberg

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China

🇨🇳 China slams U.S. for adding firms to export control list, vows action Reuters

🇨🇳 U.S. scientist convicted for China ties considering jobs in Hong Kong SCMP

🇨🇳 The inside story of the secret backchannel between the US and China FT

🇨🇳 Eight jailed after China used crypto to pay its spies in Taiwan DLN

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Our culture of corruption Chicago Tribune

💸 Former Citi executive suing bank was fired for performance Reuters

💸 Kamala’s brother-in-law fleeced taxpayers for billions NYP

💸 The staggering death toll of scientific lies Vox

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 Trump’s ‘Made in USA’ Bitcoin Threatens China Juggernaut Bitmain’s Reign Bloomberg

🔐 After cybersecurity lab wouldn’t use AV software, U.S. accuses Georgia Tech of fraud Ars

🔐 How a Colorful Investor Profited From a Crypto Giant’s Dealmaking WSJ

🔐 Wyoming is moving ahead with crypto payments, digital dollar DLN 

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Trafficking

🚚 Royal Navy seizes cocaine worth £40m from Caribbean smugglers Sky

🚚 Norway’s border guards on front line in battle against ‘cocaine tsunami’ Guardian

🚚 Iowa Man Charged with Distributing Videos Depicting Monkey Torture DOJ

🚚 DHS eyes restart of fraud-filled ‘parole’ program for migrants Wash Times

“Censorship is the child of fear, the father of ignorance, and the desperate weapon of fascists everywhere.” --Laurie Halse Anderson

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