Organized Crime

The fight against corruption is seen as weakening across the globe in 2025, with “bold, accountable leadership” in decline, according to Transparency’s International’s newly released Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). 

Brazil’s Finance Ministry has urged the country’s central bank to tighten regulation around pooled and escrow accounts that authorities say are being used by bad actors to circumvent asset freezes, according to Reuters.

The mayor of Tequila, the small Jalisco city widely regarded as the birthplace of bottled tequila, was arrested by Mexican authorities Thursday along with three other municipal officials accused of extorting beer and tequila companies, according to The New York Times.

A Spanish police corruption investigation has widened into a narcotics and money-laundering scandal that links a senior economic-crimes investigator and a son of the Duke of Seville to an international drug-trafficking ring, The Times reported. 

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. 

Mexico’s sweeping crackdown on electronic cigarettes is accelerating a shift in the country’s $1.5-billion vape-pen market toward organized crime, according to ABC News.

A former TD Bank employee pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder monetary instruments after prosecutors said he used his position to help a money-laundering network move hundreds of millions of dollars through the institution. 

Google is suing an alleged Chinese-speaking cybercriminal group it says helped drive a sprawling phishing operation that targeted Americans with fraudulent text messages impersonating government agencies and major companies, NBC News reported.

The United States is tightening its oversight of the tens of billions of dollars resident and undocumented migrants send home each year through Western Union, MoneyGram, and other money services businesses (MSBs), according to a recent U.S. Treasury Department warning.