Money Laundering

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written directly to Premier League football clubs warning that sponsorship arrangements with unauthorized cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms may expose them to criminal liability, money-laundering risks, and enforcement actions.

A March 2025 Treasury Department rule exempting virtually all U.S. companies from beneficial ownership reporting requirements has created significant gaps in the federal government’s ability to combat shell company abuse, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has warned in a new report. 

The United Kingdom government warned it could legislate to compel its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories to adopt public registers of beneficial ownership if voluntary efforts continue to stall, the prime minister’s anti-corruption champion said.

Panama has enacted a 15 percent tax on corporations without domestic activities, targeting shell companies used by wealthy foreigners to shield profits earned abroad, as the country seeks to shed its tax-haven reputation and exit a European Union blacklist.

Digital money transfer giant Wise is under criminal investigation by Belgian prosecutors over concerns that its accounts were used by international criminal organizations to launder proceeds of fraud, corruption, and drug trafficking.

An employee of Banco Santander’s Chile unit was among 18 suspects detained Tuesday as Chilean authorities moved against an alleged $85-million money-laundering network tied to the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua.

Hungarian prosecutors and police have seized around 92 billion forints ($300 million) in funds and securities in a money laundering probe of foundations set up by the National Bank of Hungary.

China has launched the biggest overhaul of its cross-border tax and capital-controls regime in decades, threatening three popular offshore brokers with at least $330 million in penalties, vowing stricter bank oversight, and ramping up private pressure on the country’s wealthiest citizens.

The Trump administration will designate Brazil’s two largest criminal gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations effective this June, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Thursday. 

Italian authorities are seizing more than €200 million ($232 million) in assets tied to late Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, including funds derived from drug trafficking and laundered across Europe and beyond.