EU removes Iraq from high-risk money laundering list; EU ambassador says this will ‘pave the way for deepening financial cooperation and investment’

Regulatory Watch News

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  Memorandum of Understanding between OFAC and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs

  OFAC

  May 16, 2025

  The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has published its Memorandum of Understanding with Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

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  Crime group used light aircraft to smuggle cocaine haul to UK

  National Crime Agency

  May 16, 2025

  A qualified pilot used his light aircraft in a bid to smuggle cocaine into the UK. Pilot Anastasios Balian, 52, and accomplice Errol McCardo Weir, 48, admitted trying to bring 30kg of the Class A drug into the country, following a National Crime Agency investigation. On 20 March this year, they were stopped by Border Force officers at North Weald airfield in Epping, Essex, after landing from Belgium via Calais. Officers searched the small plane and discovered a concealment had been built into the rear seats. Inside it were 30 1kg blocks of cocaine with a street value of about £2.4m.

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  £2m fine for online operator Spreadex Limited

  Gambling Commission

  May 16, 2025

  A gambling business will pay a £2,022,000 penalty after a Gambling Commission investigation revealed Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and social responsibility failings.

  Spreadex Limited – which operates from Spreadex.com – will also have to undergo a third-party audit to ensure it is effectively implementing its anti-money laundering and safer gambling policies, procedures and controls. The failures were revealed during a compliance assessment in July 2023 and relate to the operator’s Gambling Commission licence to offer casino and fixed odds betting.