Happy Friday!  It’s May 3, and we’re tracking top stories to take you into the weekend: Boeing’s latest trouble result of Russia sanctions delays, Gazprom slumps to first annual loss in 22 years as sanctions hit hard, Cartier heir and Colombian traffickers charged in crypto money laundering plot, Huawei secretly backs U.S. research with millions in prizes, and much more...

Illicit Edge is the world's financial crime news hub.
Your colleagues can join our community here!

Featured Story

🎯 Boeing’s Latest Trouble Is a Jet Part Caught Up in Russia Sanctions. Plane maker can’t deliver enough 787 Dreamliners after sanctions disrupted production of heat exchangers. WSJ

Top Stories

🌎 Gazprom slumps to first annual loss in 22 years as trade with Europe hit. £5.5bn loss in 2023 comes after gas sales more than halved following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Guardian

🌎 Member of the Cartier Family and Five Colombians Charged International Money Laundering Conspiracy. Maximilien de Hoop Cartier Repatriated Drug Trafficking Proceeds Via Crypto Transfers to Colombia Through the U.S. DOJ

🌎 Huawei Secretly Backs U.S. Research, Awarding Millions in Prizes. Huawei is the sole funder of a research competition that has awarded millions of dollars and attracted hundreds of proposals from scientists around the world. Bloomberg

🌎 Why Won’t Biden Enforce Sanctions Against Iranian Oil? His reversal of Trump’s policy has fed the Islamic Republic’s campaign of terror against the U.S. WSJ

🌎 Extremist Militias Are Coordinating in More Than 100 Facebook Groups. After lying low for years in the aftermath of January 6, militia extremist groups have been quietly reorganizing and ramping up recruitment on Facebook. Wired

🌎 US readies sanctions over Russian petroleum supplies to North Korea. The UN had set an annual 500,000-barrel global cap on refined petroleum products to North Korea as part of its efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. AP

🌎 Trump lawyer suggests hush money payment was extortion. A defense attorney hinted at a strategy by Trump's legal team to undermine the credibility of prosecution witnesses. Reuters

🌎 TD Bank Probe Tied to Laundering of Illicit Fentanyl Profits. The Canadian bank is contending with three other U.S. probes into its AML controls. Reuters

🌎 Countering North Korean Cybercrime and Its Enablers. The crackdown on digital platforms that help North Korea launder billions in stolen cryptocurrency has so far achieved mixed results. Lawfare

🌎 How Balkan gangsters became Europe’s top cocaine suppliers. Balkan traffickers have mastered the logistics of smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe. Reuters

🌎 US sanctions five individuals, two entities for helping Iran-backed Hezbollah. Moukalled played a key role in enabling Hezbollah to exploit and exacerbate Lebanon’s economic crisis. Al Arabiya

💥 Visit Illicit Edge for more news! 💥  

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 Russian court cancels seizure of some JPMorgan funds in VTB dispute Reuters

🇷🇺 It’s Crunch Time for This Putin Ally’s Infamous Nepo Babies Daily Beast

🇷🇺 Russia can't match a Western asset seizure, but it can inflict pain Reuters

🇷🇺 Banks face new risks as US tightens sanctions on Russia. FT

🇷🇺 Bribery case puts Russian Defense Minister Shoigu in the crosshairs Politico

🇷🇺 Taliban plan regional energy trade hub with Russian oil in mind Reuters

🇷🇺 Associate Of Pro-Russian Ukrainian Politician Moves To Slovakia After Czech Sanctions RFE

--

China

🇨🇳 Five Plead Guilty In Multi-Million Dollar Conspiracy To Launder Computer Fraud Proceeds To Chinese Companies DOJ

🇨🇳 China, TikTok role in anti-Israel college protests is 'an act of war' Fox

🇨🇳 TikTok Fights to Keep China Platform Out of US Addiction Suits Bloomberg

🇨🇳 China has a ‘fake gold’ problem — locals are getting scammed into buying artificial jewelry CNBC

--

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Harvard Commencement Speaker Published Editorial Likening Israel to Hitler Free Beacon

💸 'Qatar targeted my brother on Grindr – I want him home’ BBC 

💸 FTC accuses ex-Pioneer CEO of colluding with OPEC, blocks him from Exxon board seat CNBC

💸 Operation PANDORA shuts down 12 phone fraud call centers Europol

💸 FTC Takes Action Against BlueSnap and its Former CEO FTC

💸 Hong Kong Watchdog Prosecutes Segantii Pair for Insider Dealing Bloomberg

--

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 Crypto crimes with no cryptocurrency Axios

🔐 Iranian state-backed cyber spies continue to impersonate media brands, think tanks Record

🔐 Binance Nigeria Money Laundering Trial Delayed to May 17 CoinDesk

🔐 Israeli private eye arrested in London over alleged hacking for US firm Reuters

🔐 Tether Enters Transaction Surveillance Partnership with Chainalysis CoinDesk

--

Trafficking

🚚 Brooklynite busted selling cougar head, elephant foot, full alligator NYP

🚚 Weaponized Migrants flood the Eastern Borderlands Restoration

🚚 EU funnels aid to Lebanon amid Syria migrant surge to Cyprus DW

🚚 Inside the surprising federal crackdown on New Mexico weed farmers Politico

"Too much of what is called 'education' is little more than an expensive isolation from reality." --Thomas Sowell

📩

Share Illicit Edge with friends!

They can subscribe here for free and never miss a story.