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Greetings! It’s Thursday May 25, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: UAE cashes in on Russian gold, U.S.-Russia prisoner swap for WSJ reporter in the works, China hacks critical U.S. networks, State Department’s top China policy official steps down, and much more.

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Featured Story

🎯From Russia With Gold: UAE Cashes In As Sanctions Bite. Records that contain details of nearly a thousand gold shipments in the year since the Ukraine war started show the Gulf state imported 75 tons of Russian gold worth $4.3 billion – up from just 1.3 tons during 2021. [more]

Top Stories

🔸Russian accused of money laundering lobbies to be included in potential US-Russia prisoner swap. The Russian man, Alexander Vinnik, is accused of running a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange that did business with drug dealers and identity thieves. He was extradited from France to California last year. [more]

🔸China Hacks US Critical Networks in Guam, Raising Cyberwar Fears. To remain stealthy, the hackers use tools already installed or built into infected devices that are manually controlled by the attackers rather than being automated, a technique known as "living off the land." [more]

🔸U.S. State Department's top China policy official to step down. Some Biden administration critics have questioned US overtures to Beijing, arguing that past decades of engagement have failed to change China’s actions on a range of trade, security and human rights issues. [more]

🔸IRS veteran goes public as whistleblower in Hunter Biden criminal probe. Gary Shapley, who was recently removed from the Justice Department investigation, opened up ahead of a scheduled meeting with the House Ways and Means Committee Friday. [more]

🔸Biden administration sanctions al-Shabab leaders for charcoal smuggling, terrorism. The U.S. sanctioned 26 individuals and entities tied to the Somali terror group al-Shabab in a sweeping action that targeted illegal charcoal smuggling from the African country. [more]

🔸US Senate Republicans reintroduce bill to sanction enablers of 'terror groups' in Palestine. The “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad International Terrorism Support Prevention Act” would impose sanctions on individuals or “foreign states” that “knowingly assist, sponsor, or provide significant support for the terrorist activities of Hamas or PIJ". [more]

🔸Confidential Report Flags Bitfinex Security Lapses in Huge 2016 Hack. In the space of barely more than three hours in August 2016, over 119,000 bitcoins were quietly siphoned out of wallets on the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange. Before anyone had noticed, the crypto – worth $71 million at the time – was gone. [more]

🔸Bank of Russia Chief Visits Iran in Rare Trip Abroad Since War. Feted as one of the world’s best monetary policymakers before the February 2022 invasion, she is now shunned by counterparts in the US and Europe as she has worked to stabilize the ruble and manage the economic fallout from international sanctions on Russia. [more]

🔸DOJ Says More Companies Are Voluntarily Disclosing Possible Wrongdoing. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. said the criminal division has already seen an increase in the number of corporate disclosures since the announcement of an expanded policy. [more]

StoneTurn assists companies, their counsel and government agencies on regulatory, risk and compliance issues, investigations, and business disputes. We serve our clients from 15 global offices across five continents. Learn more.

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🔸Putin’s Central Bank Is Also on the Battlefield in Ukraine. Sergey Belov’s role in charge of what are known as “field institutions” that effectively channel funding from the state budget to combat troops draws little attention. Unlike Governor Elvira Nabiullina, he isn’t under international sanctions. [more]

🔸After Iran Deals, Indian Lender Spurs Rupee Trade With Russia. A state-run bank India used to skirt sanctions is spurring trade with Russia by using Rupees as payment and expects to see more deals as Moscow gets increasingly locked out of the global financial system. [more]

🔸The World’s Oil Map Is Being Redrawn by Rising Russian Flows to Asia. The reshaping of flows testifies to the flux in the world’s most important commodity market, where global demand runs at about 100 million barrels a day, with growth led by India and China. [more]

China

🔸Russian Prime Minister Gets an Awkward Reception on Trip to China. Top officials and managers of major Chinese companies declined to meet with him and his colleagues, many of whom are sanctioned in the West due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. [more]

🔸How US farmland became a battleground in the fight against China. In the past couple of months, lawmakers in more than two dozen states have passed or considered legislation restricting Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland. [more]

🔸Driver’s Licenses, Addresses, Photos: Inside How TikTok Shares User Data. Employees of the Chinese-owned video app have regularly posted user information on a messaging and collaboration tool called Lark. [more]

Corruption & Financial Crime

🔸Double Trouble: Lebanon’s Salameh gets second arrest warrant from Germany. Riad Salameh is under increased scrutiny in Europe on suspicions of money laundering at a time Lebanon is grappling with a deteriorating financial and economic crisis. [more]

🔸Sanctions cause rising business fears in Ukraine. Moves against Ukraine’s most successful companies are raising eyebrows – not just in Kyiv – and risk deterring foreign investors, adding to behind-the-scenes worry regarding the country’s seemingly endemic and intractable corruption problem. [more]

🔸Ericsson beats US shareholder lawsuit over graft disclosures. Swedish telecoms company Ericsson beat a lawsuit by U.S. shareholders on Wednesday, when a federal judge ruled it did not mislead investors about its compliance with U.S. anti-bribery laws. [more]

Recent headlines have reinvigorated the conversation on Insider Risks. The recent slowing of the US economy and volatility in the digital asset market have surfaced some less talked about aspects of insider risk that companies should consider. Learn more.

Crypto & Cyber

🔸Shaquille O’Neal finally served in FTX lawsuit while covering Celtics-Heat in Miami. O’Neal, who's been “dodging” lawyers representing FTX investors for months, was finally served a complaint Tuesday. [more]

🔸Telecom company sued by nearly every state over billions of robocalls. Attorneys general from almost every state in the U.S. filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Avid Telecom, a company accused of making more than 7.5 billion robocalls to people on the National Do Not Call Registry. [more]

🔸Montenegro Court Says Terra Founder Do Kwon Should Remain in Jail. One of Montenegro's higher courts overrode a separate decision to grant bail to the failed founder of the Terra/Luna crypto ecosystem. [more]

“Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice Doggie' until you can find a rock.” –Will Rogers

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