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🎯 Russian-Speaking Groups Ran Most Ransomware Attacks in 2023. Inflows to Russia-based crypto exchange Garantex accounted for 82% of the crypto volumes that belonged to sanctioned entities internationally. CoinDesk
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🌎 China aims to step up Russian energy cooperation despite U.S. sanctions calls. Xi’s message to the China-Russia energy forum is a clear indication that cooperation will expand and deepen. SCMP
🌎 Coinbase UK unit fined $4.5M by British regulator over ‘high-risk’ customer breaches. Despite restrictions in place, CBPL onboarded 13,416 high-risk customers for e-money services. CoinDesk
🌎 Money War – How Four U.S. Presidents Unleashed Economic Warfare Across the Globe. In country after country, sanctions have emerged as the key instrument of U.S. foreign policy. WaPo
🌎 U.S. Court awards CITGO Petroleum over $340M in bribery case. Testino, PLS and others paid millions in bribes to then-CITGO employees to secure highly lucrative contracts. Reuters
🌎 We bought everything needed to make $3M worth of fentanyl. All it took was $3,600 and a web browser. Reuters
🌎 U.S. Coast Guard offloads $96M seized cocaine after trio of Caribbean arrests. They stacked countless blocks of the illicit drugs in a series of Jenga-like towers along the water’s edge. NYP
🌎 Biden-Harris Admin Fails To Produce Congressionally Mandated Report on Iranian Human Rights Abuses. The report was mandated under the MAHSA Act, a bipartisan law passed after Iran’s morality police murdered a 22-year-old woman. Free Beacon
🌎 A Nation Bet Big on Online Casinos. It Didn’t Go Well. The Philippines is shutting down gambling platforms that cater to demand from outside the country, including players in China. WSJ
🌎 Sanctions crushed Syria’s elite, so they built a zombie economy fueled by drugs. Having swollen to a massive scale with tacit government approval, the trade threatens Syria’s neighbors, flooding the region with cheap drugs. WaPo
🌎 Brazilian rancher ordered to pay $50M for damage to Amazon. Brazil court freezes assets of Dirceu Kruger to pay climate compensation for illegal deforestation. Guardian
🌎 Documents Reveal Details of Adani Group's Controversial Bid to Run Kenya's Largest Airport. Whistleblower sparked outrage in Kenya after claiming the country’s main airport would be leased to one of India’s largest conglomerates. OCCRP
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