Fraud

HSBC and Barclays are facing a $12-billion civil lawsuit involving a now-defunct Jersey trust that has been linked in proposed U.S. legislation to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, The Times reported.

The Council of Europe’s anti-money-laundering body on Tuesday published a new report on how criminals exploit crypto-assets to launder illicit proceeds, fund terrorism, and evade sanctions.

Criminal syndicates operating scam centers in Southeast Asia are adopting inexpensive artificial-intelligence tools to widen their reach and keep operations running even as governments intensify crackdowns, senior Interpol officials told Bloomberg.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has launched an investigation into suspected customs fraud, corruption and document forgery linked to operations in the Port of Antwerp, alleging a scheme that caused an estimated €11.3 million in lost EU import duties. 

The Thai military said it has recovered extensive evidence of transnational online fraud from a Cambodian “scam compound” seized during border clashes last year, including target lists, scam scripts, and equipment used to disguise operations, Reuters said. 

A Texas sheriff who is the brother of U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar is facing federal fraud charges following allegations that he ran a fraudulent business using public funds and staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, The Texas Tribune reported. 

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. 

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.

Donald Trump’s return to the presidency has marked a stark shift in white-collar crime enforcement, with federal prosecutors and investigators stepping back from complex foreign-bribery, money-laundering, and corruption cases, The Wall Street Journal reported.