Plus: U.S. Hits JPMorgan, Goldman, Bank of America for $50M, Shinhan Bank for $25M...
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10/2/23

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Breaking News for Financial Crime Professionals

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Happy Monday!  It's October 2, and we’re tracking top stories to start your week: UBS says reports of Russia sanctions probe untrue, UAE secretly fuels Sudan fight, Trump trial in New York begins, multimillion dollar fines for major banks, and much more...

 

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Featured Story

 

🎯 UBS says reports of DOJ probe into Russia sanctions evasion are wrong. Swiss bank UBS says it is not aware of a probe by the US Department of Justice into suspected compliance-related missteps by its subsidiary Credit Suisse that reportedly allowed Russian clients to skirt sanctions. CNN

 

Top Stories

 

🌎 Talking Peace in Sudan, UAE Secretly Fuels the Fight. It’s the latest example of how the Emirates, an American ally in the Persian Gulf, has been using its vast wealth and sophisticated armory to position itself as a key player and sometimes kingmaker across Africa. NYT

 

🌎 Trump goes to trial in New York before a judge who just ruled he’s a fraud. “I have a Deranged, Trump Hating Judge, who RAILROADED this FAKE CASE through a NYS Court at a speed never before seen,” Trump wrote. Politico

 

🌎 CFTC orders three major US banks to pay over $50 million for swap-reporting failures. JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs will pay civil monetary penalties of $15 million, $8 million, and $30 million respectively.” Reuters  

 

🌎 Shinhan Bank’s U.S. Unit to Pay $25 Million Over Alleged Compliance Faults. FinCEN said the problems meant tens of millions of dollars in transactions linked to corruption, money laundering and tax evasion flowed through the bank and weren’t properly reported to U.S. authorities. FinCEN

 

🌎 Trial of former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried set to begin Tuesday. Bankman-Fried, who once promoted himself as the ethical face of cryptocurrencies, faces multiple fraud and money laundering charges. NBC News

 

🌎 Millions in Ether Tied to FTX 'Hacker' on The Move. FTX was hacked in November 2022, hours after the global crypto empire declared bankruptcy and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down from running the company. CoinDesk

 

🌎 Iran official admits country’s role in terror bombing that killed 241 US military members. The state-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quickly scrubbed the damning disclosure that Tabatabai made about Iran’s role in the suicide bombings of Americans, but MEMRI preserved a copy. Fox News

 

🌎 Heads continue to roll as China’s anti-corruption drive enters second decade. Xi Jinping’s graft-busting drive is now seeing officials who were personally appointed by the leader being brought down. SCMP

 

🌎 Menendez Co-Defendant’s Curious Path From Bad Deals to a Meat Monopoly. After emigrating to New Jersey from Egypt, Wael Hana faced a string of business and legal problems. Then his friend started dating a powerful U.S. senator. NYT

 

🌎 Kyiv May Be Accidentally Helping Russian Agents Penetrate Ukraine. A bill to grant Zelensky’s government huge new powers over the internet—just like the FSB in Russia—could massively backfire on Ukraine. Daily Beast

 

🌎 Joining the Gucci-loafer set for a glimpse of superyacht life in Monaco. A lot of the Russian boats — including the $700 million megayacht Scheherazade, owned by Vladimir Putin himself — have been seized. But the world is bigger than Russia — and there are more billionaires than ever. WaPo

 

🔊 ALSO: Don’t miss these podcasts from Breaking Hezbollah’s Golden Rule, AML Conversations, Click Here, CoinDesk, and 60 Minutes...

IN THE NEWS

China

 

🇨🇳 Ukraine’s War of Drones Runs Into an Obstacle: China NYT

 

🇨🇳 Bye Bye BRI? Why 3 New Initiatives Will Shape the Next 10 Years of China’s Global Outreach Time

 

🇨🇳 Switzerland in no rush to mirror EU sanctions against China Swissinfo

 

🇨🇳 Despite China-US Dialogues, Semiconductor Supply Chain Remains Uncertain Diplomat

 

🇨🇳 US-China 'tech war': AI sparks first battle in Middle East DW

Russia

 

🇷🇺 Pro-Russian politician wins Slovakia’s parliamentary election CNN

 

🇷🇺 Yellen Concerned About Evasion of Russia Oil Cap While Prices Climb Bloomberg

 

🇷🇺 Switzerland tightens sanctions over Iranian drone deliveries to Russia Reuters

 

🇷🇺 FBI warns energy sector of likely increase in targeting by Chinese, Russian hackers Record

Crypto & Cyber

 

🔐 SEC initiates legal action against FTX’s auditor Cointelegraph

 

🔐 Fugitive founder of crypto hedge fund that lost $10 billion arrested in Singapore while attempting to flee CNBC

 

🔐 In Emerging Economies Like Chile, Worldcoin Is Seeing Strong Success Decrypt

 

🔐 A Closer Look at the Snatch Data Ransom Group Krebs

 

🔐 Critical vulnerabilities in Exim threaten over 250K email servers worldwide Ars

Corruption & Financial Crime

 

💸 IRS consultant charged in massive leak of taxpayer data Politico

 

💸 Wife of Gabon's ousted president Ali Bongo charged with 'money laundering' AFP

 

💸 UBS Reaches Settlement With Mozambique Over Tuna Bond Scandal Bloomberg

 

💸 FC Barcelona under investigation for ‘sustained … active bribery,’ CNN

 

💸 Hedge Fund D.E. Shaw Impeded Potential Whistleblowers Bloomberg

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