Corruption

Albanian organized crime groups have tightened their grip at home and expanded across Europe while drawing minimal pushback from Brussels, according to a Follow the Money investigation conducted with media partner BLAST. 

Belgian authorities have officially charged former European commissioner Didier Reynders with money laundering, a person familiar with the case confirmed to Follow the Money. He is not being held in custody.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday blacklisted a Mexican human-smuggling ring, imposing sanctions against four individuals and 16 companies it says helped illegally migrate to the United States.  The Cancun-based Bhardwaj Human Smuggling Organization has illicitly transported thousands of people from Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia […]

Portuguese authorities are examining more than 20 individuals linked to a Novo Banco SA real-estate transaction after a fresh round of raids on the bank, according to multiple news reports. 

A former director at Trenchant, an L3Harris Technologies subsidiary that develops offensive cyber tools, pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing and reselling trade secrets worth $35 million to a Russian broker whose clients include the Russian government, Bloomberg reported.

JPMorgan Chase will provide U.S.-dollar clearing services in Angola, becoming the first major American lender to reengage with the African nation following major corruption scandals and years of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance restrictions, Bloomberg reported.

Belgium is in danger of evolving into a “narco-state” as organized crime penetrates key institutions and exploits Antwerp’s giant port to smuggle cocaine into Europe, an investigating judge warned in an open letter cited by the Financial Times.

One of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels is smuggling gasoline and diesel into the Port of Ensenada with the aid of a “dark fleet” tanker and a Houston-based company, according to an investigation by Reuters. 

A Peruvian judge declined a request to restrict former President Dina Boluarte from leaving the country while prosecutors investigate her for corruption and money laundering, Reuters reported. 

Three cargo vessels recently sanctioned by the EU for operating in Russia’s “shadow fleet” were quietly sold out of Syria’s state fleet in 2023 for $1 each to an offshore company in the Seychelles, according to new reporting by OCCRP and its Syrian partner SIRAJ.