NEWS: US praises FATF reaffirming blacklisting of Iran

Regulatory Watch News

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  SEC Charges PGI Global Founder with $198 Million Crypto Asset and Foreign Exchange Fraud Scheme

  SEC

  April 23, 2025

  Washington D.C., April 22, 2025 —

  The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Ramil Palafox for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that raised approximately $198 million from investors worldwide and for misappropriating more than $57 million of investor funds. According to the SEC’s complaint, Palafox’s company, known as PGI Global, claimed to be a crypto asset and foreign exchange trading company. From January 2020 through October 2021, Palafox offered and sold PGI Global “membership” packages, which he claimed guaranteed investors high returns from PGI Global’s supposed crypto asset and foreign exchange trading and offered members multi-level-marketing-like referral incentives to encourage them to recruit new investors

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  Commission finds Apple and Meta in breach of the Digital Markets Act

  European Commission

  April 23, 2025

  Today, the European Commission found that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and that Meta breached the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data. Therefore, the Commission has fined Apple and Meta with €500 million and €200 million respectively. The two decisions come after extensive dialogue with the companies concerned allowing them to present in detail their views and arguments.

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  Human trafficking-fueled fraud ring dismantled in joint Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana operation

  Interpol

  April 23, 2025

  LYON, France – Two suspected traffickers have been arrested and 33 people rescued from a criminal network that sequestered victims and forced them into exploitative pyramid schemes. The successful operation was carried out by police in Côte d’Ivoire, following a joint investigation with Ghanaian authorities and support from INTERPOL. The case was brought to the attention of police in Ghana by the father of two victims who had been lured through fake job ads online. His daughters had paid nearly USD 9,000 to travel to Canada for work via a recruiter that used a Canadian phone number, giving the employment offer a sense of legitimacy.