Counterparty

The Trump administration designated three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, claiming the groups contribute to regional instability and violence. 

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday launched a set of initiatives to investigate what it called “rampant government benefits fraud” in Minnesota, including the imposition of new reporting requirements for financial institutions. 

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on four companies it said were operating in Venezuela’s oil sector, along with associated oil tankers.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an order directing the federal government to loosen marijuana regulations and accelerate a long-stalled effort to reclassify the drug, a step that could mark one of the biggest federal shifts on cannabis policy in decades, Reuters reported.

Major U.S. chipmakers Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Texas Instruments, along with a Warren Buffett–owned electronics distributor, are facing a series of lawsuits accusing them of failing to prevent their semiconductors from ending up in Russian missiles and drones used to attack civilians in Ukraine.

Nine of the largest U.S. lenders made “inappropriate distinctions” among customers in politically sensitive sectors, including by applying enhanced risk controls in response to negative media reports, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said. 

Federal police raided the headquarters of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and more than 30 soccer clubs as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering involving a key sponsor of the game, CNN said.

The United States has imposed sanctions on four individuals and four companies it says helped recruit, pay and deploy Colombian mercenaries to fight for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Mexico’s anti-money laundering unit has frozen the bank accounts of Raúl Rocha Cantú, the Mexican co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization, as authorities investigate alleged links to drug, fuel and arms trafficking, the Associated Press reported.

Spanish lender Santander has agreed to pay €22.5 million ($26.18 million) to settle a long-running tax fraud case in France, bringing to a close an investigation that began more than a decade ago, according to Reuters.