Fraud

A Brazilian Senate decision to strip bank- and tax-secrecy protections from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s son has intensified political pressure on the leftist leader as lawmakers investigate an alleged fraud scheme inside the national pension system.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is facing a sharp rise in suspected fraud linked to the EU’s pandemic recovery fund, with estimated losses tied to the program approaching €5 billion, Follow the Money reported, citing figures in the office’s annual report released Monday.

The messaging platform Telegram has become a hub for job scams and other forms of fraud, Revolut is warning.

A record mismatch in official trade statistics is complicating efforts to measure how far the U.S. and China have “decoupled,” according to Bloomberg, which cited an $112-billion gap between what Beijing said it exported to the United States and what U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded as arriving.

A senior Treasury Department official is preparing to resign after privately raising objections to a White House-backed initiative aimed at alleged fraud tied to the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota.

Cyber-enabled fraud is rapidly expanding in scale and sophistication as criminals exploit digital platforms, instant payments, and virtual assets to move illicit proceeds across borders, an intergovernmental watchdog said on Tuesday.  

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the Mexican billionaire behind Grupo Elektra, thought he’d done enough due diligence when he decided to invest $400 million in Bitcoin as the value of the cryptocurrency surged in the spring of 2021. 

Crime boss Kazem Hamad has taken a major financial stake in the Manchester tobacco company in Dubai, cementing his cartel’s control over Australia’s illicit cigarette market from manufacturing and smuggling through to retail sales in suburban shops.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has launched a dedicated portal to accept whistleblower tips on money laundering, fraud, and sanctions violations, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Friday. 

Paxful Holdings Inc., a peer-to-peer virtual currency trading platform, was sentenced on Tuesday to pay a $4-million criminal penalty after pleading guilty to conspiracies tied to illegal prostitution, anti-money-laundering failures and transmitting criminal proceeds.