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Hello Wednesday!  It’s June 12, and we’re tracking today's top stories: U.S. Treasury takes bold action against Russia's financial infrastructure, six suspected terrorists with ISIS ties arrested in U.S. cities, the street fighting lawyer who’s become Hollywood’s dark knight, China's top drone manufacturer enlists Texas company to avoid bans, and much more...

Featured Story

🎯As Russia Completes Transition to a Full War Economy, Treasury Takes Sweeping Aim at Foundational Financial Infrastructure and Access to Third Country Support. U.S. Treasury 

📌 Sanctions Hole: How secretive routes supply Russia with western tech and consumer goods Guardian

Top Stories

🌎 Six suspected terrorists with ISIS ties arrested in sting operation in NY, LA and Philadelphia. The target subject to the wiretap was previously released by federal authorities at the southern border. NYP

📌 The Terrorism Warning Lights Are Blinking Red Again Foreign Affairs

📌 Patagonia funneled thousands to Palestinian terrorism-linked group Washington Examiner

🌎 The Street-Fighting Lawyer Who’s Become Hollywood’s Dark Knight. When pissed-off power players from Megyn Kelly and Bethenny Frankel to Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon need a warrior to fight their nastiest legal battles, Bryan Freedman is the first person they call. Hollywood Reporter

🌎 China's Top Drone Manufacturer Enlists Texas Company To Avoid Federal Bans. Enter Anzu Robotics, a one-man Texas startup that hit the market in April with drones that bear remarkable similarities to DJI’s product offerings. Free Beacon

📌 US Weighs More Limits on China’s Access to Chips Needed for AI Bloomberg

🌎 Russia posts abducted Ukrainian children on government-linked adoption sites. Ukrainian children who have been forcibly deported to Russia are subject to systemic re-education efforts by Russian authorities. FT

🌎 Two US men jailed for conspiracy to sell Iranian oil to China. Zhenyu Wang and Daniel Ray Lane schemed with co-conspirators to evade US sanctions against Iran. Reuters

🌎 How the IRS went soft on billionaires and corporate tax cheats. The IRS division that audits corporations and the ultrarich flagged no more than 22 possible tax crimes over the past five years. ICIJ

🌎 Charity Founder Embezzled Millions and Spent on Lavish Meals. Keith Taylor, head of Modest Needs, crowdsourced donations for the poor but spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at high-end restaurants. DOJ

🌎 SEC Charges Founder of AI-Powered Hiring Startup Joonko With Fraud. Ilit Raz told investors the firm had more customers than it actually had and gave them false bank statements and forged contracts. WSJ

🌎 Inside Mexico’s anti-avocado militias. The spread of the avocado is a story of greed, ambition, corruption, water shortages, and cartel battles. Guardian

🌎 Warren Bill Would Jail Buyout Execs Whose ‘Looting’ of Hospitals Caused Death. Senator Warren calls for six-year sentences for private equity executives who put excessive pressure on a hospital’s finances. WSJ

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 EU Proposes to Sanction Shipping Giant Sovcomflot to Limit Russia’s Revenue Bloomberg

🇷🇺 Let’s unpack some questions about Russia’s role in North Korea’s rocket program Ars

🇷🇺 For Some In Russia's Far-Flung Provinces, Ukraine War Is A Ticket To Prosperity RFE

🇷🇺 Russian Real Estate in Finland Pose Security Risk, PM Warns Bloomberg

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China

🇨🇳 G-7 to Call on China to Stop Helping Russia’s War in Ukraine Bloomberg

🇨🇳 Trump ally urges Jeremy Hunt to investigate Shein’s ‘slave labor and sweatshops’ Telegraph

🇨🇳 Hong Kong doctor, lawyer among 665 victims scammed out of HK$780 million by syndicates SCMP

🇨🇳 As China-backed BRICS mulls Thailand membership, could more countries soon join the club? SCMP

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Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Women challenge the mafia in Italy’s Puglia AP

💸 In Oklahoma, there’s a push to lower penalties for cockfighting NPR

💸 Activist Hedge Fund Fined for Secret Payments to Researcher Bloomberg

💸 Bangladesh Court Indicts Nobel Laureate Yunus In Graft Case AFP

💸 American investor Martin Shkreli accused of copying and sharing one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album AP

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Crypto & Cyber

🔐 In Conversation With Brian Nelson CoinDesk

🔐 Why Perplexity’s Cynical Theft Represents Everything That Could Go Wrong With AI Forbes

🔐 Hacker Accesses Internal ‘Tile’ Tool That Provides Location Data to Cops 404

🔐 Crypto Hacks Net $19B Since 2011 and Illegal Activity on Blockchain Is Still Growing CoinDesk

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Trafficking

🚚 Two narco subs loaded with nearly 5 tons of cocaine seized in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia CBS

🚚 Silicon Valley’s Fanciest Stolen Bikes Are Getting Trafficked by One Mastermind in Jalisco, Mexico Wired

🚚 Europe is running out of heroin. The alternatives are much worse Politico

🚚 Hinduja Scion in Swiss Human-Trafficking Trial Says Nanny Was Like a ‘Second Mum’ to Family Bloomberg

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