Illicit Finance

China said Monday it plans to enact a new law this year aimed at combating cross-border corruption, marking another stage in Beijing’s long-running anti-graft campaign.

An investigative news outlet on Thursday launched a searchable online database containing nearly 3,200 financial disclosure records for more than 1,500 Trump-appointed federal officials, detailing extensive financial ties between senior members of the administration and the industries they regulate.

The DEA opened a secret investigation into Jeffrey Epstein in 2015 on suspicions of money laundering, drug trafficking, and running a prostitution ring that procured Eastern European women for high-profile clients.

The United Arab Emirates is considering freezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets held in the Gulf state, a move that could sharply restrict Tehran’s access to foreign currency and global trade networks.

More than 70 metric tons of Venezuelan gold worth over $2.2 billion were routed through Curaçao and refined in Switzerland between 2012 and 2018, despite evidence the metal originated in conflict-affected mining areas in Venezuela.

The United States is temporarily easing sanctions on Russian oil sales to India with a 30-day waiver aimed at preventing supply shortages and cushioning a sharp rise in crude prices after U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is dropping its civil-fraud case against crypto billionaire and World Liberty Financial investor Justin Sun.

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.

Kyiv’s assets-declaration watchdog missed multiple red flags in the filings of former Ukrainian energy minister Herman Halushchenko, according to Transparency International Ukraine. 

Star Entertainment’s ex-chief executive Matthias Bekier and former in-house lawyer Paula Martin breached their directors’ duties during the casino operator’s “Chinese money-laundering era”, the Australian Federal Court found.