Bessent and Powell Warn Banks on New AI Tool’s ‘Zero-Day’ Risks
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned Wall Street executives this week to warn that a new artificial intelligence model from Anthropic could mark the start of a more dangerous phase in cybersecurity.
UBS Wins Dismissal of Dirty-Money Charges Tied to Tuna-Bond Scandal
UBS AG has won dismissal of money-laundering charges inherited from Credit Suisse over the long-running Mozambique tuna-bond scandal after a Swiss court found criminal liability could not be transferred after the bank’s 2023 takeover of its former rival.
HSBC and Standard Chartered Get Their Hong Kong Stablecoin Licenses
Hong Kong has granted its first licenses for fiat-backed stablecoins to HSBC and a Standard Chartered-led joint venture, marking a significant step in the city’s effort to build a regulated market for virtual currencies used in finance and trade.
How a Blacklisted Iranian Conglomerate Has Ties to a Reform UK Donor
A donor to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is the registered manager and shareholder of a Dubai-based company that previously had business ties to an Iranian conglomerate later placed under U.S. sanctions.
White House Expected to Extend Russia Oil Sanctions Waiver
The Trump administration is expected to extend its waiver of sanctions on Russian oil this week, according to former Treasury and State Department officials cited by Semafor, a step that could tee up a similar extension for Iranian oil later this month as the White House weighs fuel prices and broader market stability.
Vanished ‘Wolf of Montreal’ Obtained New Name and Home Abroad
Canadian penny stock trader John Babikian, once dubbed the “Wolf of Montreal,” obtained a new legal identity, secured residency in Latvia, and bought a luxury apartment in Dubai after disappearing from public view following a U.S. securities settlement.
UBS Says It Won’t Release Nazi-Era Settlement Files after Court Setback
UBS AG said it will not hand over privileged documents sought in an investigation into Credit Suisse’s handling of Nazi-linked accounts after a U.S. judge declined to give the bank assurances that doing so would not expose it to new legal claims.
Iran Seeks Crypto Payments for Strait-of-Hormuz Tolls after Ceasefire
Iran is seeking to collect transit tolls from oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz in cryptocurrency, a move that could deepen the role of digital assets in the country’s sanctions-hit economy.
Drug Traffickers Used BMPE Scheme and Perfume Sales to Move Money
A Mexican national pleaded guilty to participating in a two-year, multimillion-dollar black-market peso exchange conspiracy that laundered drug trafficking proceeds through Texas to Mexico, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.
Treasury Proposes AML and Sanctions Rules for Stablecoin Issuers
The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday proposed new anti-money-laundering and sanctions-compliance rules for permitted payment stablecoin issuers, marking a major step in implementing the 2025 GENIUS Act and expanding federal oversight of the sector.