Happy Monday! It’s June 5, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: Fresh U.S. Treasury sanctions target Russian-aligned influence group in Moldova, Russian sanctions evasion in India and Myanmar, Atomic Wallet hacks lead to $35 million in crypto stolen, Binance controlled ‘independent’ U.S. affiliate’s bank accounts, and much more…

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Featured Story

🎯Treasury Sanctions Russian Intelligence-Linked Malign Influence Actors Targeting Moldova. [more]

Top Stories

🔸Russia is evading sanctions by ‘buying back’ military supplies from India and Myanmar. A report cites Russian repurchases of parts for tanks and missiles exported previously to Myanmar and India, likely in a bid to reimport the components to improve older weapons expected to be used in Ukraine. [more]

🔸Atomic Wallet hacks lead to over $35 million in crypto stolen. Atomic Wallet is now collecting information from victims, asking what operating system they are using, where they downloaded the software, what was done before crypto was stolen, and where the backup phrase was stored. [more]

🔸Crypto giant Binance controlled ‘independent’ U.S. affiliate’s bank accounts. The new findings offer further detail into how Binance exercised tight control over Binance.US, despite both firms maintaining that they have always operated independently. [more]

🔸Crypto’s Richest Man Is Waiting Out the Chaos. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, has always avoided the spotlight. But after Sam Bankman-Fried’s extraordinary fall, all eyes are on crypto's mysterious kingpin. [more]

🔸Russian wineries maintain production despite EU sanctions. Russian wine suppliers have been facing difficulties due to EU sanctions, but Putin's favorite vintners are importing from Portugal and France through third-party countries. [more]

🔸Dave Ramsey faces $150 million lawsuit over timeshare exit promotions. Each of the 17 plaintiffs in the April lawsuit say they paid thousands for Timeshare Exit Team's services after listening to Ramsey's promotions. [more]

🔸The Messy US Influence That’s Helping Iranians Stay Online. Newly announced sanctions against Iran-based Avaran Cloud underscore the complexity of crafting Washington’s internet freedom efforts. [more]

🔸Why Is Syria’s Dictatorship Being Rehabilitated? Captagon has become massive across the Middle East, fueled by the Syrian dictator’s war machine. Now, he's being embraced by other leaders – if he cracks down on the drug. [more]

🔸Mystery Trader’s Debt-Ceiling Windfall Sparks Insider Concerns. Digging into whether a trade is improperly based on confidential information is notoriously difficult, especially when it involves market-moving news from inside the government. [more]

🔸Brazil police charge alleged mastermind behind murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira. Leader of ‘transnational criminal organization’ and a supposed subordinate have been charged over the 2022 murders of journalist and Indigenous expert. [more]

IN THE NEWS

Russia & China

🔸Russia’s Rosbank Launches New Cross-Border Crypto Payments System. Though it isn’t clear which digital assets the bank will support for cross-border payments, Russian fintech group B-crypto will be handling the technical aspects of the new protocol. [more]

🔸Insurers Signal Fallout From Sanctions On Russia. It appears that the push to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine is backfiring and hurting insurers and shippers in the West disproportionately. [more]

🔸Fast fashion giant with ties to China tries to shake forced labor claims. Shein is under the microscope for its alleged reliance on supply chains that run through the Xinjiang region of China. [more]

🔸Putin Gifts Historic Treasures to Church Amid Ukraine Campaign. Putin handed over the historic icon to the Russian Orthodox Church, the latest sign of the tightening alliance between the Kremlin and religious leaders. [more]

Crypto & Cyber

🔸Blockchain Association Files Amicus Brief in Coin Center Lawsuit Against U.S. Treasury Over Tornado Cash Sanctions. OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash last August, saying that North Korean hackers had laundered hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of crypto through the mixer since its launch. [more]

🔸Why Elizabeth Warren Is Wrong About Crypto and the Fentanyl Epidemic. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for a greater crypto crackdown following new research from blockchain analytic firms Chainalysis and Elliptic that found bitcoin and tether (USDT) have become cornerstone to the global fentanyl trade. [more]

🔸Scammers publish ads for hacking services on government websites. The PDFs link to several different websites, some of them advertising services that claim to be able to hack into Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat accounts. [more]

Corruption & Financial Crime

🔸He’s leading Mexico’s probe of the Dirty War. Who’s spying on him? Nearly two years after the president established a truth commission to pry open the secrets of that dark chapter, signs have emerged that the government’s lead investigator has been targeted with military-grade spyware. [more]

🔸Dozens sentenced in $30 million Atlanta fraud and money laundering crackdown. Defendants “engaged in multiple fraud and money laundering conspiracies that stole millions of dollars from victims located throughout the U.S. and abroad. [more]

🔸El Salvador president pledges white-collar prison in 'war' on corruption. Bukele launched a brutal campaign on the country’s violent gangs over a year ago, suspending constitutional rights in a so-called state of exception. [more]

This Week in Congress

🌎 June 6: IP and Strategic Competition with China, Part II – Prioritizing U.S. Innovation Over Assisting Foreign Adversaries. [more]

🌎 June 7: Dollar Dominance: Preserving the U.S. Dollar’s Status as the Global Reserve Currency. [more]

🌎 June 7: Aligning Transatlantic Approaches on China [more]

🌎 June 7: Transnational Criminal Organizations – The Menacing Threat to the U.S. Homeland. [more]

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." -- Albert Einstein

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