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Fugitive Moldovan tycoon recruits top Russian bankers to run sanctions-busting crypto firm: leak
CITY OF LONDON–Senior executives from Russia’s mainstream banking sector have joined an avowedly sanctions-proof crypto and payments firm at the heart of the Kremlin’s strategy to disrupt the West, leaked documents show. The documents reveal, in granular detail, the emerging sanctions evasion tactics and election interference campaigns run by fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor, who…
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Irish land reg loophole could attract money launderers, ex-senior judge says
CITY OF LONDON–A loophole in Irish rules around the land registry database and mortgage securitization may be used by money launderers, Edmund Honahan, retired Master of the High Court in Ireland, said in an interview. Honahan has long been campaigning for reforms in how Ireland handles changes to land registry entries. He has warned for…
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Reporter and Follow the Money exposed Monaco’s delays in criminal prosecution
Reporter and Dutch investigative media outlet Follow the Money have exposed unexplained delays in a criminal investigation in Monaco, involving bank accounts alleged to contain proceeds of fraud and potentially sanctions evasion. Based on offshore company documents leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and an exclusive interview with pre-eminent global sanctions campaigner Bill…
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Crypto-jihad: Tether and FBI slow to stop Hamas funding, top analyst says
LONDON—Global cryptocurrency provider Tether and the American government could have seized at least $10 million in crypto from Hamas, compared to just over $200,000, which was actually recovered last month. The US department of justice seized the USDT equivalent of $201,400 in March from terrorist organisation Hamas, according to a statement. The move came after…
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Reporter and 5 partners investigate the associate of top presidential candidate in Romania
BUCHAREST — Mircea Geoană’s ex-campaign manager in Romania has business ties to a Russian who is close to the military and has campaigned for the Russian side in the Ukraine war. The campaign manager’s son also did a deal with a former executive from a company founded by a sanctioned oligarch, while the dad was…
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Arm’s-length: Uzbek tycoon with links to Putin pal and sanctioned Russian bank grabs strategic assets in Europe
LONDON–Eriell Group is the top oil and gas services company in Uzbekistan, but until recently, its corporate headquarters was in Jersey. The firm’s chairman continues to do multi-million euro deals in Europe despite Eriell’s close ties to sanctioned Gazprombank and, allegedly, Gennady Timchenko, a sanctioned oligarch and personal friend of Vladimir Putin. The Eriell parent…
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Reportercast October 2023 in Kyiv with Andrii Mikheiev: on asset confiscations and international law
A podcast episode recorded in Kyiv on October 17 on the sidelines of a conference on the human rights abuses in Ukraine and Syria, organised by SUN (The Syria Ukraine Network), an NGO based in the US. Andrii Mikheiev is an international law expert with the International Center for Ukrainian Victory, a Kyiv-based NGO. He…
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Reportercast September 2023 with Steve Middleton: on the Ulster Bank scandal
Steve Middleton is a financial adviser specialised in regulation and he has taken up the cause of Northern Irish business owners who accuse Ulster Bank (a subsidiary of NatWest group) of fraud. The allegations are only now coming to the fore but the issues date from the years around the great financial crisis of 2008…