Fraud

Canadian penny stock trader John Babikian, once dubbed the “Wolf of Montreal,” obtained a new legal identity, secured residency in Latvia, and bought a luxury apartment in Dubai after disappearing from public view following a U.S. securities settlement.

The collapse of British property lender Market Financial Solutions (MFS) is exposing what Bloomberg described as an alleged collateral fraud that may leave lenders facing as much as £1.3 billion in losses and is raising new concerns about due diligence in private credit. 

Global financial fraud cost an estimated $442 billion in 2025 and is set to worsen over the next three to five years as artificial intelligence lowers barriers for criminals and scam-center operations spread far beyond Asia, according to INTERPOL’s latest global threat assessment. 

Referrals by the Internal Revenue Service for possible criminal tax violations by large corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals plummeted follwing President Donald Trump’s return to office, with the agency’s division responsible for auditing big businesses and billionaires sending at most two cases to criminal investigators in fiscal year 2025.

Banco Master SA’s former chief executive Daniel Vorcaro was returned to custody for a second time in roughly three months as a widening probe into the collapsed lender added allegations of threats, intimidation, and illegal access to sensitive law-enforcement data.

Peter Mandelson is facing scrutiny from the EU anti-fraud office after the European Commission asked investigators to examine his conduct during his tenure as the bloc’s trade commissioner.

Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the assets of veteran entrepreneur Nelson Tanure to be frozen as part of an investigation into failed lender Banco Master SA, according to a January 6th decision seen by Bloomberg. 

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday launched a set of initiatives to investigate what it called “rampant government benefits fraud” in Minnesota, including the imposition of new reporting requirements for financial institutions. 

Switzerland’s attorney general has filed criminal charges against UBS and a former Credit Suisse compliance officer, alleging failures to prevent money laundering linked to the long-running Mozambique “tuna bonds” scandal, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Fugitive former Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek has been linked to a sprawling, multibillion-dollar money laundering network that British investigators say connects street-level drug dealers in the UK to sanctioned Russian oligarchs and the Kremlin’s security services, the Financial Times reported.