Sanctions Evasion

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said he has pressed Binance for records over concerns the cryptocurrency exchange may have given Congress misleading information about reported money laundering and terrorist financing tied to Iran. 

Ten years after the Panama Papers exposed the offshore financial system exploited by tax cheats and criminals around the world, prosecutions and transparency reforms tied to the landmark investigation are still unfolding.

The British Virgin Islands has opened part of its long-guarded corporate registry to outside scrutiny, but anti-corruption advocates say the new transparency rules contain loopholes that could let bad actors hide ownership information and undermine investigations.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Tuesday issued new guidance warning that sham transactions used by sanctioned individuals and entities to disguise continuing control over assets do not extinguish a blocked interest in property under U.S. sanctions rules.

Hungary’s foreign minister privately shared sensitive European Union discussions with Russia and worked with Moscow to try to remove sanctioned Russian individuals, banks, and companies from EU blacklists.

U.S. authorities have charged an alleged hacker in connection with a 2021 exploit of decentralized exchange Uranium Finance that drained about $53 million in crypto and helped force the platform to shut down.

Cuba was preparing on Monday to receive a sanctioned Russian tanker carrying about 730,000 barrels of oil, offering a temporary lifeline to the island as it struggles through a fuel crisis worsened by a U.S. oil blockade.

Britain’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has fined Apple Distribution International Ltd £390,000 for breaching Russian sanctions, saying the subsidiary of Apple instructed a UK bank to make two payments totaling £635,618.75 to a Russian streaming company owned by a designated entity.

The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Monday issued an advisory urging banks and other financial institutions to step up detection and reporting of healthcare fraud tied to Medicare, Medicaid and other public health benefit programs.

Iranian-linked wealth has continued to find its way into London property despite years of Western sanctions, with luxury homes, apartments, and a boutique hotel tied to figures accused by British and U.S. authorities of supporting Tehran’s sanctions-evasion networks.