NEWS: Customs officials in Hong Kong bust HK$400M (€50.9M) money laundering syndicate

Regulatory Watch News

• 

  SEC Announces Agenda, Panelists for Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence

  SEC

  March 20, 2025

  Washington D.C., March 20, 2025 —

  The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the agenda and panelists for the March 27 roundtable on artificial intelligence in the financial industry. “I look forward to hearing from the panelists on how emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, can both improve the cost-effectiveness of the Commission’s regulations and provide additional value to market participants,” said SEC Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda. “I encourage members of the public to provide data and other evidence on how artificial intelligence can be used to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.”

• 

  Treasury Sanctions Network Supporting Iran’s Oil Exports

  OFAC

  March 20, 2025

  WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating a “teapot” oil refinery and its chief executive officer for purchasing and refining hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian crude oil, including from vessels linked to the Foreign Terrorist Organization, Ansarallah, commonly known as the Houthis, and the Iranian Ministry of Defense of Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).

• 

  OFSI Issues Monetary Penalty for Breaches Linked to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

  OFSI

  March 20, 2025

  The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has today announced it has issued a monetary penalty for breaches of the Russia financial sanctions regime linked to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

  A monetary penalty of £465,000 has been imposed on Herbert Smith Freehills CIS LLP Moscow – a subsidiary of the UK registered Herbert Smith Freehills LLP – in relation to payments they made to designated persons subject to an asset freeze.