Covered Institutions

Two UK-registered cryptocurrency exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, operated as front companies for an infrastructure that processed approximately $1 billion in funds linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to new analysis from TRM Labs. 

Spanish National Police, working with Germany’s Bavarian State Criminal Police Office and supported by Europol, arrested 34 people in Spain during an operation against the international criminal organization known as “Black Axe,” Europol announced. 

An elite unit of Portugal’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has taken over a money-laundering investigation involving Elvira Gavrilova Paterson, a Ukrainian movie producer who helped promote alleged crypto frauds linked to Russian entrepreneur Vladimir Okhotnikov, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. 

World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s flagship crypto venture, said an affiliated entity has applied for a national banking license, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A former TD Bank employee pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder monetary instruments after prosecutors said he used his position to help a money-laundering network move hundreds of millions of dollars through the institution. 

Luxembourg’s financial regulator has fined Rakuten Europe Bank €185,000 for multiple breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regulations, according to a new report by the Luxembourg Times.

PwC has decided to “lean in” to cryptocurrency work after years of a more guarded approach, citing a friendlier U.S. policy environment under President Donald Trump and new legislation governing digital assets, according to the Financial Times. 

Japan’s rapidly aging population is creating a sprawling new target for financial abuse, with older people experiencing cognitive decline controlling assets worth almost half the country’s GDP.

Iran is offering to sell ballistic missiles, drones, warships, and other advanced weapons systems to foreign governments in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency, the Financial Times reported.

UK law firms are preparing for more stringent oversight of their anti-money laundering (AML) programs after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was designated as the compliance supervisor for the legal sector, The Guardian reported.