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🎯 U.S. charges man with helping smuggle microelectronics with military uses to Russia. Petrov and two unnamed Russian co-conspirators were accused of using shell companies to conceal the fraudulent procurement from U.S. distributors of microelectronics subject to American export controls. Reuters
Top Stories
💥 How TikTok is cleverly evading calls in DC to ban China-owned app. After a dramatic spring in which calls to ban TikTok on US soil reached a fever pitch — made worse by a disastrous Congressional testimony from CEO Shou Zi Chew — the fervor died down this summer. NY Post
💥 Russia and Iran invited back to Nobel Prize banquet. Swedish Liberal MEP Karin Karlsbro accused the Foundation of setting a "dangerous precedent" by "giving a green light to inviting Russia to a glamorous party while missiles fall over Ukrainian cultural centers and murder children." BBC
💥 How a high-powered lobbying firm worked to shield a Putin-tied oligarch from sanctions. When the Ukraine war broke out, the U.S. moved to sanction several Russian figures. But two oligarchs with ties to the lobbying shop BGR were not among them. Politico
💥 JPMorgan processed more than $1 billion for Epstein. The U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two private islands, is suing JPMorgan for at least $190 million and likely much more, saying it ignored red flags that Epstein was running a sex trafficking operation because he was a lucrative client. Reuters
💥 Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has an ambitious plan to rid his country of corruption. Anwar joined forces again with Mahathir in 2018 following the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, in which over $4 billion was stolen from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, aided by a former Goldman Sachs managing director. Fortune
💥 Fintech giant Wise allowed Russia sanctions target to withdraw money. Though the sum of money involved in the sanctions violation is small, it’s a black eye for one of Britain’s fintech darlings and highlights the industry’s ongoing struggle to prevent sanctions breaches following the Ukraine war. CNBC
💥 US hits North Korean and Russian accused of supporting North Korea's ballistics missile program. The action was taken a day after the White House said it had new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea to supply more munitions for the war in Ukraine. AP
💥 Taliban signs mining contracts worth $6.5 billion in Afghanistan. The seven contracts are with locally based companies, many of whom have foreign partners in countries including China, Iran, and Turkey. AP
💥 Why Singapore Banks Are Worried About Foreign Customers. Financial institutions in Singapore are scouring client records after police raided a sprawling criminal organization with stockpiles of cash – and dozens of bank accounts. WSJ
💥 US regulators might change how they classify marijuana. It’s unlikely that the medical marijuana programs now licensed in 38 states — to say nothing of the legal recreational pot markets in 23 states — would meet the production, record-keeping, prescribing and other requirements for Schedule III drugs. AP
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