Illicit Finance

President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of Binance, after months of behind-the-scenes efforts by Zhao and his allies to secure clemency.

A new legal filing alleges that a cryptocurrency promoted in January by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump was part of a sophisticated scheme that used celebrity association to lend legitimacy to token launches, according to Wired. 

The United States imposed expansive new sanctions Wednesday on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, escalating U.S. economic pressure as negotiations to end the war in Ukraine falter.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has filed a High Court lawsuit against crypto exchange HTX, alleging the platform unlawfully promoted cryptoasset services to consumers in breach of the country’s financial promotions regime, the Financial Times reported. 

One of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels is smuggling gasoline and diesel into the Port of Ensenada with the aid of a “dark fleet” tanker and a Houston-based company, according to an investigation by Reuters. 

Iran has announced the official end of the 2015 nuclear agreement, saying it is no longer bound by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and that all restrictions and related mechanisms under the accord are terminated, The Guardian reported. 

An unprecedented U.S. Treasury order cutting three Mexican financial institutions off from the American financial system took effect Monday, after already forcing asset sales, client flight and heightened compliance across Mexico’s banking sector, Bloomberg reported.

A Manhattan federal jury found BNP Paribas liable for enabling genocide in Sudan under the Omar al-Bashir regime, raising speculation it could face a multibillion-dollar settlement, Bloomberg reported.

Canada will launch a new federal financial-crimes agency and change banking laws to clamp down on online fraud and other scams, the country’s Department of Finance announced on Monday. 

French investigators are treating Sunday’s smash-and-grab at the Louvre as a potential money-laundering operation, after four masked thieves stormed the museum’s Galerie d’Apollon and escaped with eight pieces of royal jewelry.