Greetings!  It’s July 16, and we’re tracking today's top stories: Regulators use banks to illuminate shadow banks, New England fishermen sentenced in complex herring fraud case, massive Tijuana drug smuggling tunnel, German-linked logistics firm aids sanctioned Russian manufacturers, and much more...

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Featured Story

🎯 How regulators are using banks to illuminate shadow banks. Shadow banks, a catch-all term for non-bank financial institutions like private funds and mortgage servicers, are lightly regulated and opaque. Reuters 

Top Stories

🌎 New England fishermen sentenced in complex herring fraud case. Several fishermen have been sentenced in a fraud scheme centered on critically important species of bait fish. AP

🌎 Drug smuggling tunnel found in Tijuana is so long authorities don't have enough oxygen to reach other end. It started in Tijuana and its exit point was a warehouse in an industrial area near San Diego's Otay Mesa border crossing. LT

🌎 German-linked logistics firm helped sanctioned Russian manufacturers. HT Rus's website offers clients in Russia "parallel imports", a term widely used to describe shipping goods via third countries such as Turkey or the United Arab Emirates to get around sanctions. Reuters

🌎 India seeks to boost exports to Russia after Modi trip. New Delhi and Moscow have been trying to settle more trade in rubles and rupees since the war led to sanctions on Russian entities. Reuters

🌎 Internal Disney Communications Leaked Online After Hack. Group critical of AI-generated art says it has obtained swaths of data from Disney’s Slack channels. WSJ

🌎 Medical entrepreneur and her DJ husband arrested over $900M healthcare fraud scheme. Alexandra Gehrke and Jeffrey King were preparing to depart for their honeymoon when arrested in Arizona. Independent

🌎 EU Imposes Fresh Sanctions On 'Extremist' Israeli Settlers. The asset freezes and visa bans are the second round of sanctions from the 27-nation bloc. AFP

🌎 ASML-Backed University Caught in Middle of US-China Chips War. In the intensifying battle over the world’s chip supply chain, the Dutch government is caught between its US ally and a major export market in China. Bloomberg

🌎 North Korean hackers are infiltrating crypto job boards in a ‘quiet war’ that rakes in $600M. The UN says 4,000 North Koreans are trying to penetrate the tech industry by getting jobs. DLN

🌎 Kaspersky Lab shutting down U.S. operations. The sudden move comes after the U.S. Commerce Department announced last month that it was banning the sale of Kaspersky software in the U.S. beginning July 20. Zero Day

🌎 Senate Republicans Demand AG Merrick Garland Fire Kristen Clarke For Lying Under Oath. Senators are calling on the attorney general to remove Clarke from her Senate-confirmed role because she lied to get the job. Federalist

IN THE NEWS

Russia & China

📌 UK, EU States to Target Russian Oil Fleet With More Checks Bloomberg

📌 Police hunt mayor accused of being Chinese spy Bloomberg

📌 EU officials to boycott Hungarian presidency over Orbán’s visits to Moscow, Beijing Semafor

📌 Russian court orders house arrest for a general in custody on fraud charges AP

📌 White House should disclose whether Russia sharing US weapons insight with China Reuters

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 BlackRock Hires Government Liaison as Texas Pushes Against ESG Bloomberg

💸 In New York, Wage Theft Violators Get Millions in Government Contracts ProPublica

💸 Pakistan to ban Imran Khan's party, file treason case against ex-PM Reuters

💸 Former Chicago hospitals executives charged in $15M embezzlement scheme AP

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 Self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor faces UK criminal probe for alleged perjury Reuters

🔐 Crypto Casino Founder Apologizes for Gambling Away Investor Funds CoinDesk

🔐 It’s never been easier for the cops to break into your phone Verge

🔐 New HardBit Ransomware 4.0 Uses Passphrase Protection to Evade Detection Hacker News

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Trafficking

🚚 Ex-police officer faked child-trafficking stories BBC

🚚 How Can Communities In Venezuela Save Hawksbill Turtles From Poachers? Forbes

🚚 'Fentanyl Robbery Gang' lured victims with prostitution and drugged them NBC

🚚 U.S. Immigration Officials Deport Record Number of Illegal Migrants Newsweek

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