NEWS: UniCredit in court limbo over possible cuts to Russian business

Regulatory Watch News

• 

  Data Center Company CEO Indicted for Major Fraud and Making False Statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

  US Department of Justice

  October 16, 2024

  A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment yesterday charging a Maryland man with major fraud against the United States and making false statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his alleged participation in a scheme to deceive the SEC into thinking his company’s data center was certified at the highest rating level for reliability, availability, and security, when it was not.

• 

  Treasury Targets Hizballah Finance Network and Syrian Captagon Trafficking

  OFAC

  October 16, 2024

  WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating three individuals and four associated companies involved in a Lebanon-based sanctions evasion network that generates millions of dollars in revenue for Hizballah. Hizballah’s finance team is responsible for the establishment and operation of Hizballah commercial projects throughout Lebanon, some of which are financed and facilitated by Iran. OFAC is also designating three individuals involved in the illegal production and trafficking of Captagon that has benefitted Bashar al-Assad’s regime and its allies, including Hizballah. The illegal trade in Captagon, a dangerous, highly addictive amphetamine, has become a billion-dollar illicit enterprise operated by senior members of the Syrian regime.

• 

  READOUT: FinCEN Hosts Regional Training Event in Botswana to Combat Money Laundering

  FinCEN

  October 16, 2024

  WASHINGTON—From September 17 through September 19, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), with funding and support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and the International Law Enforcement Training Academy in Gaborone, Botswana, hosted a multi-day regional training event in Gaborone as part of the Counter Illicit Finance Teams (CIFT) program. The training event brought together delegations from Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Namibia, and South Africa, along with facilitators and trainers from the United States and from Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, to improve the capabilities of government agencies to investigate and address priority illicit finance threats, including those related to the illegal wildlife trade (IWT). CIFT training is designed to provide capacity-building, case studies, and targeted training to personnel from participating governments’ financial intelligence units, law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and prosecutors.