Happy Valentine's Day!  It’s February 14, and we’re tracking today's top stories: The robust North Korean sanctions mirage, ISIS plot to kill President Bush reminds us border crisis is real, American consulting firms live in fear of their murderous clients, Santander says internal review finds no breach of U.S. sanctions, and much more... 

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🎯 The Robust North Korea Sanctions Mirage. U.S. policy against Pyongyang isn’t working. Instead, Washington must cripple Kim’s revenue flow to change his calculus. 38 North

🇨🇳 North Korean Arms Trade Is China’s Problem Too Bloomberg

Top Stories

🌎 ISIS plot to assassinate George Bush reminds us the border crisis security threat is real. The obscure federal prosecution of Shihab Ahmed Shihab for his plan to assassinate former President Bush shows that terrorists know U.S. borders are wide open. NYP

📌 After border bill failure, ICE considers mass releases to close budget gap WaPo

📌 House Republicans impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas ABC

🌎 The American Consulting Firms That Live in Fear of Their Murderous Clients. What keeps companies like McKinsey in the business of whitewashing the regimes of bloodthirsty dictators? TNR

🌎 Santander Says Internal Review Finds No Breach of US Sanctions. The review found that Santander was never aware that the account holder was owned in a trust by an Iranian company facing US sanctions. Bloomberg

🌎 Terrorists Are Paying for Check Marks on X. New report shows that X has accepted payments for subscriptions from entities barred from doing business in the U.S., a potential violation of sanctions. NYT

🌎 Hackers for China, Russia and Others Used OpenAI Systems. A number of nation-backed groups are starting to use LLMs to guide research, scripting, and phishing emails. Verge

🌎 Crypto Launderer Kept Identity ‘Hidden in the Fog’. Roman Sterlingov operated Bitcoin Fog, an “online money laundering service,” which jumbled tokens together from different owners to make it difficult to trace transactions. Bloomberg

🎙️ Event: Under Secretary Brian Nelson on key reforms to curb dirty money flows in the US Atlantic Council

🌎 Financial sanctions: banks’ reactions depend on their location. Banks in locations with weaker standards for the integrity of the financial system seem to find lending in sanctioned countries more attractive. Conversation

🌎 Bitcoin Favored in Human Trafficking, Child Exploitation. The total number of OCSE and human trafficking-related BSA reports involving CVC increased from 336 in 2020 to 1,975 in 2021. CoinDesk

🌎 Digitex Futures Exchange CEO indicted for violating BSA. The Digitex Futures Exchange CEO was previously ordered to pay $16M in penalties for failing to register with the CFTC. Cointelegraph

🌎 Carbon capture tech a 'complete falsehood', says Fortescue Metals chairman. "I say for policy makers everywhere do not be the next idiot waiting for the old lie to be trotted out...” Reuters

📘 Statement of FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki before the House FSC FinCEN

IN THE NEWS

Russia & China

💥 Russia Reports Major Exports Downturn Newsweek

💥 Does Billionaire Arkady Volozh Really Belong on the EU Sanctions List? Der Spiegel

💥 ASML says geopolitics, new export restrictions remain risks Reuters

💥 German detained at Russian airport for cannabis gummy bears DW

💥 Potential sanctions, global headwinds will have little effect on Hong Kong tech sector SCMP

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Cash for Vitol Bribes Was Handed Over in Houston Parking Lot Bloomberg

💸 Sen. Menendez’s wife got engagement ring as part of bribery scheme CNN

💸 Trio Arrested as UK Probes Gang Links to Insider Trading Bloomberg

💸 Did Delaware 'lock the doors' to stop companies from leaving, as Musk claims? Reuters

💸 UNRWA case reveals a much larger problem with humanitarian aid Euronews

💸 Biogen gets DOJ subpoena on business operations in foreign countries Reuters

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 Coinbase, Ripple-Backed Super PAC Spends Millions to Defeat Elizabeth Warren Ally Decrypt

🔐 US Treasury official urges Congress for more power against crypto crime Cointelegraph

🔐 Bitcoin money launderer Ian Freeman ordered to pay $3.5M to romance scam victims CNBC

🔐 Prudential Says Hackers Gained Access to Its Computer Systems Bloomberg

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