NEWS: Aspire Global fined £1.4M for AML and social failures

Regulatory Watch News

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  Two Members of a Transnational Money Laundering Organization Sentenced for Laundering Millions of Dollars in Drug Proceeds

  US Department of Justice

  April 12, 2025

  A Georgia man was sentenced today to 78 months in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to launder millions of dollars in drug proceeds on behalf of foreign drug trafficking organizations, including the Sinaloa cartel and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (the Jalisco cartel). On Dec. 4, 2024, his co-conspirator was sentenced to 90 months in prison for his role in the money laundering scheme.

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  AK rifles and grenades seized as firearms trafficking route into France dismantled

  Europol

  April 11, 2025

  An international firearms trafficking network smuggling assault rifles and grenades into Western Europe has been dismantled following a series of coordinated raids in France, Spain and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Seven suspects have been arrested in connection with the gang, which is believed to have sourced high-powered weapons from illegal markets in the Western Balkans and trafficked them into France for onward distribution. The joint operation – supported by Europol and Eurojust – has taken down the full supply chain behind the trafficking route, from source to destination.

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  Germany: Members of criminal organisation convicted for €24 million VAT fraud involving simulated export of cars

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  April 11, 2025

  (Luxembourg, 11 April 2025) – Three perpetrators of a €24 million VAT fraud involving simulated exports of cars were convicted yesterday by the Hagen District Court in Germany, following an investigation carried out by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cologne. The three, who were accused of being the ringleaders of a criminal organisation dedicated to car sales and systematic evasion of VAT, were sentenced to five years and nine months (reduced by three months, considered as served), three years and nine months and one year and nine months in prison.