Australia’s Bendigo Bank Dinged after Deloitte Flags AML Weaknesses
Australian regulators took coordinated action on Thursday to address weaknesses in the anti-money laundering and risk-management controls of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, including the imposition of a A$50 million operational-risk capital charge.
Properties of France’s Culture Minister Dati Raided in Corruption Probe
Authorities raided the residential properties and offices of French Culture Minister Rachida Dati on Thursday as part of a corruption probe linked to her previous tenure as a member of the European Parliament, Bloomberg reported.
Google Sues Alleged Chinese Crime Group Behind Massive U.S. “Smishing” Wave
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.
U.S. to Designate Venezuelan Government as Terror Group, Blockade Sanctioned Oil Tankers
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to designate Venezuela’s government a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO) and ordered a “total and complete” blockade of sanctioned oil tankers moving into and out of the country.
UK to Investigate Role of Cryptocurrency in Political Bribes
The UK government will examine the role of cryptocurrency donations in politics as part of a wider review of party-financing rules triggered by a bribery case involving a Reform UK politician, Bloomberg reported.
U.S. Threatens Fiji Aid Over Human Trafficking by Doomsday Cult
The U.S. government is threatening to downgrade Fiji to the lowest tier in its global human trafficking rankings unless authorities take “decisive action” against a religious group linked to human trafficking and transnational organized crime, OCCRP reported.
Russian Oligarchs are Using European Treaties to Sue Ukraine for Vast Sums
Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman and other oligarchs are exploiting European investment treaties to sue Ukraine for hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, of dollars, according to a new investigation by Follow the Money.
Widespread Chinese Ad Fraud is a Boon for Meta’s Bottom Line
The social-media giant Meta has tolerated widespread advertising fraud tied to Chinese customers in order to protect billions of dollars in revenue, even after internal teams repeatedly flagged the activity as problematic, Reuters reported.
How Russia’s ‘Shadow Fleet’ Keeps the Oil Flowing
A Russian “shadow fleet” tanker sanctioned by the UK, EU and U.S. continued transporting oil in late 2025, underscoring what an investigation by Follow the Money describes as the limited impact Western measures have had on the cash flow Moscow earns from crude exports.
In Fiscal 2025, IRS-CI Saw Sharp Rise in Tax Fraud and Other Financial Crimes
The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) division identified $10.6 billion in tax and other financial crimes in the federal fiscal year ending September 30, a rise of nearly 16% from the prior year.