Hello Wednesday!  It’s June 19, and we’re tracking today's top stories: Wary White House views Russia oil sanctions through lens of inflation, cigarettes are turning Gaza aid trucks into targets, Tether terrorist financing threat, DEA exposes growing links between Sinaloa cartel and Chinese organized crime, and much more... 

Featured Story

🎯 Wary White House views Russia oil sanctions through lens of inflation. U.S. Treasury officials argue that sanctions imposed in February on Sovcomflot didn’t produce inflationary pressure. WaPo 

Top Stories

🌎 At $25 Each, Cigarettes Are Turning Gaza Aid Trucks Into Targets. Rampant cigarette smuggling is the latest breakdown in law and order slowing the delivery of lifesaving assistance. WSJ

🌎 Tether Threat: Multiple reports have highlighted Tether’s use by Hamas, Chinese fentanyl suppliers, and North Korea’s nuclear program. Daily Wire

🎙️ Featured Pod: Chainalysis 2024 Crypto Crime Report - A Useful Tool for the AML Community AML Conversations

🌎 DEA exposes growing links between Sinaloa cartel and Chinese organized crime. Two dozen LA-based associates of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel were charged in a sophisticated scheme to launder $50M in drug money through underground banking run by Chinese nationals in the U.S. NBC

🚩 China police probe drug-related money laundering operation after U.S. tip Reuters

🌎 Russian Tycoon’s US-Sanctioned Bank Expands Services for Chinese. Alfa Bank, controlled by Mikhail Fridman, is applying to open branches in Beijing and Shanghai. Bloomberg

📕 Featured Report: War Machine – The Networks Supplying & Sustaining the Russian Precision Machine Tool Arsenal C4ADS

🌎 The Murky Business of Transgender Medicine. Did Texas Children’s Hospital commit fraud to pay for child sex-change procedures? City Journal

🌎 Ethics probe into Matt Gaetz reviewing allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. The ethics committee has spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents. AP

🌎 Mysterious memo tying Zambian ex-president Edgar Lungu to corruption highlights the limits of FIU. Zambian investigators drafted a request in 2019 asking their counterparts in Eswatini for help investigating Lungu. Why wasn’t it sent until years later? ICIJ

🚩 The new AML/CFT Regulation, the sixth AML/CFT Directive and the future EU AML/CFT supervisor CSSF

🌎 Human rights watchdog asks how FIFA can "seriously consider" Saudi Arabia as World Cup host. Saudi Arabia was the only country that ultimately bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. Salon

🌎 Germany's domestic intelligence designates BDS an extremist movement. The Federal Interior Minister presented a report outlining how BDS violates the idea of ‘international understanding’. JP

🚩 FinCEN provides CTA reporting guidelines for bankruptcy but uncertainty remains Reuters

IN THE NEWS

Russia

🇷🇺 Kim and Putin sign mutual defense pact NBC

🇷🇺 Coke and Dozens of Others Pledged to Quit Russia. They’re Still There. Bloomberg

🇷🇺 Russian court bans Engie from international arbitration against Gazprom Reuters

🇷🇺 Canada Sanctions 13 Russian Officials Over Navalny’s Death MT

--

China

🇨🇳 China cultivated high-rolling crime families before turning on them WaPo

🇨🇳 US Seeks Allies’ Help in Curbing China’s AI Chip Progress Bloomberg

🇨🇳 Just Do It: Explaining the Characteristics and Rationale of Chinese Economic Sanctions Texas NSR

🇨🇳 Silicon Valley steps up staff screening over Chinese espionage threat FT

--

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Inside the Slimy, Smelly, Secretive World of Glass-Eel Fishing New Yorker

💸 Trafigura proposes employee share clawbacks for confidentiality breaches Reuters

💸 Rail operator owes $400M for trespassing on Native American land Axios

💸 How a Network of Nonprofits Enriches Fundraisers While Spending Almost Nothing on Its Stated Causes ProPublica

💸 Scammers tried to steal Graceland. Here’s how to make sure they don’t get your home. CNN

💸 Rudy Giuliani's Bankruptcy Creditors Go After Girlfriend's Daughter Newsweek

--

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 SEC Ends Probe Into Consensys, Won't Sue Over Ethereum CoinDesk

🔐 Elon Musk rushes to debut X payments as tech issues hamper creator payouts Ars

🔐 Martin Shkreli Says He Is Behind Trump-Linked DJT as ZachXBT CoinDesk

🔐 CBDCs Can Boost Middle East's Financial Inclusion IMF

🔐 Kraken says its being extorted following bug bounty report Cointelegraph

--

Trafficking

🚚 UK’s richest family on trial for human trafficking BBC

🚚 Bestiality bus with dozens of animals stopped in Pennsylvania Daily News

🚚 On US-Mexico bridge, two sides of Biden border crackdown Reuters

🚚 Enhanced role of Europol in fighting migrant smuggling EU

“Some ideas sound so plausible that they can fail nine times in a row and still be believed the tenth time..." --Thomas Sowell

📩

Share Illicit Edge with friends!

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