Illicit Finance | Certain Risk

LONDON- APRIL, 2018: National Crime Agency - UK government non- ministerial office in Westminster

NCA Charges British Shipping Financier over Alleged Sanctions Violations

Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has charged shipping financier John Michael Ormerod with alleged money laundering and breaches of Russia sanctions.

An AI-edited image of a British car made to look as if it's been in a serious wreck.

For Insurers, Phony Claims Now Come with AI-Altered Photos

Fraud appears to be worsening in the UK’s insurance sector, driven in large part by the submission of phony claims backed by AI-altered images.

An image of the French rapper Gims wearing sunglasses and holding a microphone in his hand against a white background — Selbymay, “NDLE2025Gims 4.jpg” (Gims at La Nuit de l’Erdre 2025, Nort-sur-Erdre, Loire-Atlantique, July 6, 2025), own work, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Congolese Rapper Gims Linked to International Money-Laundering Ring

New details about the allegations against the rapper Gims have emerged after French authorities charged the Congolese music star with money laundering linked to millions of euros in suspicious transactions.

A photograph of Mojtaba Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, as purportedly seen on 10 April 2026 — Image: “Ayatollah Sayyid Mojtaba Khamenei, 10 April 2026,” cropped from the original. Source: Wikimedia Commons; original source Khamenei.ir. License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Trump Administration Levies ‘Economic Fury’ Sanctions on Iran

The U.S. Treasury imposed a fresh round of Iran-related sanctions on Wednesday, targeting what it described as the illicit oil-shipping empire of Iranian magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani and a Hezbollah-linked oil-for-gold laundering network tied to Venezuela.

NEW YORK, USA, 1. MARCH 2022: Telegram app, Group of business people chat on mobile phone and laptop. Telegram – freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging. Company logo on screen

Telegram Hosts a Sanctioned Marketplace Tied to Child Sex Trafficking, Forced Labor

Telegram is still hosting Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language black market that British officials have levied sanctions on and accused of facilitating crypto scams and human trafficking.

A photo of a SantaCon gathering New York's East Village — Mack Male, “SantaCon New York 2013 (11599126913),” Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0), cropped

SantaCon Organizer Faces Fraud Charges over Theft Allegations

The organizer of New York City’s annual SantaCon bar crawl was arrested on wire-fraud charges on Wednesday after federal prosecutors alleged he diverted money that was supposed to go to charity and used it instead for personal expenses.

An infographic published by the U.S. Treasury Department showing Cartel del Noreste's network of casinos in Northern Mexico

U.S. Blacklists Mexican Casinos, Businesses Said to Launder Cartel Cash

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on six people and businesses it said were tied to a money laundering and cash-smuggling network operated by Cartel del Noreste, a Mexican drug trafficking group active near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Magyar’s New Task: Dismantling the ‘Party-State’ Without Destroying the State

Hungary’s incoming prime minister, Péter Magyar, is pledging to oversee a broad anti-corruption campaign once in office, including the creation of new watchdog bodies and investigations of government contracts.

“EVERGRANDE INTERNATIONAL CENTER IN GUANGZHOU by Dinkun Chen, via Wikimedia Commons, 24 February 2023. Adapted from the original. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.”

Founder of China’s Evergrande Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Embezzlement

Hui Ka Yan, the founder of embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande, pleaded guilty this week to multiple charges including embezzlement of assets and corporate bribery, in a major milestone in the unraveling of one of China’s biggest corporate collapses.

Chuck Grassley speaking a U.S. Senate hearing.

Grassley Questions Candor of UBS on Nazi-Linked Accounts

UBS AG is facing renewed pressure from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee over its handling of an investigation into possible Nazi-linked accounts at Credit Suisse, after the panel’s chairman accused the Swiss bank of withholding documents and obstructing a full review.