Illicit Finance

Two Chinese pharmaceutical firms and six Chinese nationals are facing charges after prosecutors said they were part of a drug-trafficking network that provided material support to the Cártel del Golfo (CDG), a Mexican criminal syndicate that was designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

It was a tiny Swiss bank, headquartered in an open-plan office close to Lake Zurich and little known abroad. But MBaer Merchant Bank AG would sometimes charge clients 10 times the normal rate to process payments.

Britain’s government will cap political donations from British citizens living overseas at £100,000 a year and temporarily ban cryptocurrency donations under emergency election law changes aimed at countering foreign interference.

An Italian member of the European Parliament denied taking bribes from Huawei as lawmakers weigh whether to strip him of parliamentary immunity in a Belgian corruption investigation.

Russia is reaping a financial windfall from the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, as supply disruptions in the Middle East drive up global fertilizer prices and sharpen debate in Europe over whether to ease curbs on Russian exports.

Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and the National Federation of Builders have launched a campaign to help the construction industry combat invoice fraud, warning that the crime costs businesses millions of pounds and poses a particular threat to firms handling complex supply chains and high-value payments.

French financial prosecutors searched the Paris offices of private bank Edmond de Rothschild last week as part of an investigation into suspected bribery involving former employee and diplomat Fabrice Aidan, in a case linked to documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files.

An Irish alumina refinery owned by Russian metals group Rusal is part of a supply chain that appears to end with Russian arms manufacturers involved in the war in Ukraine, according to new reporting by The Guardian that cites leaked records and public trade data.

Iran-linked hackers have stepped up cyberattacks on Israel in recent weeks, wiping data at more than 50 small businesses and compromising about 50 public security cameras, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing Israel’s top civilian cyber official.

South African authorities have accused captive rhino breeder John Hume of leading one of the largest rhino-horn trafficking syndicates on record and using domestic reporting requirement to conceal his illicit activity.