Illicit Finance

Major Australian banks are working with the country’s financial-crimes watchdog to assess the scale of an alleged mortgage fraud scheme that may extend well beyond an earlier A$1 billion estimate.

Hungary’s long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is facing mounting political pressure ahead of an April 12 election as a sprawling estate in his home village becomes a flashpoint for opposition claims of corruption.

Bank of America has agreed in principle to settle a proposed class action lawsuit brought by Jeffrey Epstein’s victims ,who accused the lender of aiding the late financier’s sex-trafficking operation.

Global financial fraud cost an estimated $442 billion in 2025 and is set to worsen over the next three to five years as artificial intelligence lowers barriers for criminals and scam-center operations spread far beyond Asia, according to INTERPOL’s latest global threat assessment. 

U.S. officials have linked two prominent figures in English polo to an alleged scheme to launder proceeds from the illicit sale of Venezuelan oil, according to a Financial Times report that cited a recent Treasury Department notice about the now-defunct Swiss lender MBaer Merchant Bank.

North Korean IT operatives are increasingly using artificial intelligence tools to pose as remote workers, win jobs, and draw salaries from European companies, the Financial Times reported, citing cyber security experts who said the threat is spreading beyond the United States.

Cybercrime victims are increasingly being targeted a second time by fraudsters posing as lawyers, law enforcement officials, and recovery specialists who falsely promise they can retrieve stolen funds.

Illicit Iranian oil shipments continue to move through Asian waters toward China, generating a critical revenue stream for Tehran and helping Beijing build large crude stockpiles despite sanctions and heightened regional conflict.

Binance internal investigators identified VIP accounts they said helped channel more than $1 billion to wallets tied to Iran-linked entities, including one account registered to a 79-year-old Chinese resident and another linked to a suspected Iranian gold smuggler.

Leon Black, the billionaire financier and former chief executive of Apollo Global Management, has been ordered to sit for a deposition in a lawsuit accusing Bank of America of facilitating and profiting from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.