Law Enforcement

Louis Vuitton’s Netherlands unit has agreed to pay a €500,000 settlement after Dutch authorities concluded the company failed to adequately vet customers who repeatedly made large cash purchases over a prolonged period.

Belgian police raided European Commission offices in Brussels on Thursday as part of an investigation into potential irregularities in the sale of EU real estate assets.

Paxful Holdings Inc., a peer-to-peer virtual currency trading platform, was sentenced on Tuesday to pay a $4-million criminal penalty after pleading guilty to conspiracies tied to illegal prostitution, anti-money-laundering failures and transmitting criminal proceeds.

Drug cartels and other criminal groups are increasingly using cryptocurrencies and a growing “gig” workforce of freelance brokers and couriers to launder cash and evade law enforcement, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

The mayor of Ecuador’s largest port city was arrested Tuesday on charges of money laundering and tax evasion, as prosecutors widened a case that also swept up his brother and other members of his inner circle, the Associated Press said. 

El Salvador’s top prosecutor has effectively halted a money-laundering investigation into a Venezuela-financed oil venture whose funds flowed into bank accounts linked to President Nayib Bukele.

Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office said Monday it will file corruption charges against Ecopetrol President Ricardo Roa, alleging misconduct tied to his role as finance manager for President Gustavo Petro’s 2022 campaign and to contracting decisions at the state-run oil company, the Associated Press said. 

A massive corruption trial that spanned a decade ended last week in Turks and Caicos with the convictions of the jurisdiction’s former premier, his brother, and a one-time governmental minister, the Miami Herald said. 

The U.S. Justice Department is increasingly targeting corrupt Mexican money brokers in an attempt to disrupt the financial networks used to launder cartel drug proceeds via cryptocurrency and other means, the Associated Press reported.

The mayor of Tequila, the small Jalisco city widely regarded as the birthplace of bottled tequila, was arrested by Mexican authorities Thursday along with three other municipal officials accused of extorting beer and tequila companies, according to The New York Times.