West Africa’s Growing Role in the Global Cocaine Supply Chain
West Africa has become a major and expanding logistics, warehousing, and redistribution hub in the global cocaine trade, with the market in the region larger than ever and increasingly damaging to public health, governance, and security.
FATF Flags Dirty-Money Risks of Offshore VASPs
Gaps in the international oversight of offshore virtual-asset firms have made it possible for criminals to commit large-scale fraud, money laundering, and terrorism financing beyond the reach of most supervisory bodies, according to FATF.
U.S. Launches New Probe into Binance Transfers Linked to Iran
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Iran’s use of Binance to evade U.S. sanctions, according to new reporting by The Wall Street Journal.
Hospice Fraud is Growing in LA County Despite Crackdown
Signs of hospice fraud in Los Angeles County are worsening despite a state crackdown, with more than 700 of roughly 1,800 licensed hospices in the county showing multiple warning indicators identified by California auditors.
Cambodia’s Scam Trade May Prove Largely Unaffected by Crackdown
Cambodia’s crackdown on cyber scam compounds has disrupted operations in Phnom Penh and elsewhere, but the multibillion-dollar industry is already showing signs of revival.
Could Guyana Become South America’s Next Drug Hub?
Guyana’s rapid economic expansion and new port development could make the country a more important cocaine transshipment point as U.S. military strikes in and near Venezuela disrupt established trafficking routes.
Financial Institutions Failing to Identify Activity Linked to Illicit Mining: Report
Banks and investors are failing to adequately screen for illegal mining risks even when operating in sectors highly exposed to the trade, according to a report by the World Wide Fund for Nature and financial-crime risk platform Themis.
Russia’s Latest Shadow-Fleet Cargo: GRU Veterans and Wagner Mercenaries
Russian military veterans, including former Wagner mercenaries and men linked to the GRU, have been deployed aboard tankers in Moscow’s “shadow fleet” moving sanctioned oil through the Baltic Sea.
AI Increasingly Used to Dodge Economic and Trade Sanctions
Artificial intelligence is making sanctions and export-control evasion schemes harder to detect by enabling the creation of realistic fake companies and phony documentation used to obviate international trade restrictions.
When a U.S. Anti-Bribery Law Is a Statecraft Weapon, Not a Domestic Deterrent
Washington is increasingly turning U.S. anti-corruption enforcement into an instrument of economic statecraft—a shift that threatens to undercut decades of American efforts to fight illicit activity abroad.