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Regulatory Watch News

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  Treasury Disrupts Financial Facilitation Network Supporting Hizballah Terrorists

  OFAC

  May 15, 2025

    WASHINGTON —Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is targeting two senior Hizballah officials and two financial facilitators for their roles in coordinating financial transfers for Hizballah.  These individuals, based in Lebanon and Iran, work closely with Hizballah leadership to send money to the group from overseas donors.  These donations are a significant portion of the terrorist group’s overall budget.  In addition to managing and processing funding for Hizballah within Lebanon, one of these individuals is responsible for overseeing financial activity for Hizballah-aligned groups around the world.

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  FMA warns against offerings by Guru4Invest

  FMA

  May 15, 2025

  This provider is not authorised to conduct securities transactions in Austria that require a licence, and is not allowed to execute orders on behalf of clients in accordance with Article 3 para. 2 no. 6 of the Securities Supervision Act 2018 (WAG 2018; Wertpapieraufsichtsgesetz 2018).

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  17 providers of criminal banking services arrested

  Europol

  May 15, 2025

  In a prime example of the interconnection between criminal networks, Europol supported the takedown of a criminal parallel banking organisation with multiple branches spread out across Europe. The action day conducted on 14 January 2025 across Austria, Belgium and Spain constitutes a direct follow-up to two successful operations against migrant smugglers (as reported on 4 July 2023 and as 13 August 2023). A total of 17 individuals were arrested (15 in Spain, 1 in Austria, 1 in Belgium). A large amount of criminal assets worth over EUR 4.5 million, 4 shotguns and several electronic devices were seized.