US Justice Department charges four in payment fraud case worth over $150M

Regulatory Watch News

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  Phobos Ransomware Administrator Extradited from South Korea to Face Cybercrime Charges

  US Department of Justice

  November 18, 2024

  Russian National Alleged to Have Coordinated Sale, Distribution, and Operation of Phobos Ransomware as Part of International Hacking and Extortion Conspiracy

  The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges today against Evgenii Ptitsyn, 42, a Russian national, for allegedly administering the sale, distribution, and operation of Phobos ransomware. Ptitsyn made his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on Nov. 4 after being extradited from South Korea. Phobos ransomware, through its affiliates, victimized more than 1,000 public and private entities in the United States and around the world, and extorted ransom payments worth more than $16 million dollars.

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  Treasury Targets Organization with Ties to Violent Actors in the West Bank

  OFAC

  November 18, 2024

  WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning Amana the Settlement Movement of Gush Emunim Central Cooperative Association Ltd (Amana), a settlement development organization that is involved with U.S.-sanctioned individuals and outposts that perpetrate violence in the West Bank, and its subsidiary Binyanei Bar Amana Ltd. This action, taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14115, is part of an ongoing multilateral approach by the United States and its partners to hold accountable those who are threatening the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank. Amana has also been sanctioned by the United Kingdom and Canada.

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  Financial sanctions update: Iran

  OFSI

  November 18, 2024

  On 18th November 2024 the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated the UK Sanctions List on GOV.UK. This list provides details of those designated under regulations made under the Sanctions Act. The following entries have been added to the Iran financial sanctions regime and are now subject to an asset freeze:

  • Islamic Republic of Iran Airlines (Group ID: 16611)
  • The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) (Group ID: 16693)

  OFSI’s consolidated list of asset freeze targets has been updated to reflect these changes.