Happy Monday! It’s July 27, and we’re tracking top stories to start your week: BitMEX co-founders face fraud claims over alleged 'Insider Trading Desk' as exchange winds down, New Russia sanctions are the EU at its most impotent, Operation Eau de Fraud, Prominent lawyer gets 6 years in prison for tax evasion, mortgage fraud, and much more…

***

Share the knowledge!
Tell a friend to subscribe to Illicit Edge here.

🎯 FEATURED STORY

Arthur Hayes, BitMEX co-founders face fraud claims over 'Insider Trading Desk' as exchange winds down. The complaint points to March 13, 2020, when customers were locked out of the platform for roughly 25 minutes and about $800 million in leveraged positions were liquidated. The Block

🔥 TOP STORIES

New Russia sanctions are the EU at its most impotent UnHerd

Why did Team Trump drop sanctions on the killers of Hong Kong's freedom? New York Post

"Operation Eau de Fraud" takes down Chicago YouTuber's $250,000 luxury fragrance scam CBS News

Poker, fraud and Spider-Man: Prominent lawyer gets 6 years in prison UPI

EU Names Justin Sun's HTX in Russia Sanctions, Two Months After UK Decrypt

$32M COVID-19 fraud fugitive captured in Jamaica and returned to US Fox News

Drug gang threats force French police to put southern mayor under protection AFP

11 people indicted in smuggling deaths of 7 migrants in rail cargo container in Texas AP

Treasury Further Dismantles Iranian Financier Zanjani’s Network U.S. Department of the Treasury

UK Freezes $30 million in London Properties Owned by a Man Under Investigation in Singapore Money Laundering Case OCCRP

Lab Owner Suspected of $547 Million Medicare Fraud Extradited to The United States OCCRP

Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke indicted on bribery charges Politico

Alex Saab, ally of Venezuela's Maduro, pleads not guilty to US charges Reuters

Former President Juan Orlando Hernández returns to Honduras after arrest warrant suspended AP

Massacre of 10 men in Zacatecas stuns Mexico Los Angeles Times

Wise Group Shares Drop After U.S. Regulator Denies License on Shortcomings The Wall Street Journal

🚩 RUSSIA & CHINA

Market-Friendly Chinese Securities Regulator Faces Communist Party Probe Wall Street Journal

Chinese National Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Federal Prison for Role in Group that Attempted to Ship Over a Metric Ton to Australia U.S. Department of Justice

Pentagon expands blacklist to include China’s top civilian universities South China Morning Post

A Police HQ, Wind Farms, and Natural Gas: Mapping China's Investments in Europe OCCRP

Estonian National Pleads Guilty to Exporting Electronics for the Benefit of Russian Military U.S. Department of Justice

🚀 SANCTIONS & TERROR

China slaps export controls on 14 EU entities in retaliation for Russia-related sanctions Associated Press

EU sanctions Georgian, Belarusian refineries for Russian oil links S&P Global

Iran smuggling agents into UK as Channel migrants The Telegraph

Deadly Berlin Pride ramming believed to be Islamist terror attack AFP

Greens face backlash over motion against IRGC ban and Iran sanctions The Times

Cotton introduces bill to close tax loopholes exploited by far left terrorist organizations Senator Tom Cotton

Four terror plots to attack Jewish targets disrupted in Canada Global News

💸 CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

FinCEN Issues Alert on Fraud Schemes Targeting Federal Student Aid U.S. Department of the Treasury

Inside the Matrix: How models, influencers and engagement quotas power the Social Discovery Group’s dating machine and global profits ICIJ

Sprawling 'fraud factory' discovered hiding in plain sight on busy California high street New York Post

Montenegrin Court Sentences Fugitive Kavač Clan Boss to 40 Years in Prison OCCRP

Indonesia's AGO detains former senior prosecutor Febrie Adriansyah in corruption probe The Star

🔐 CRYPTO & CYBER

The hacker who humiliated spyware makers and was never caught TechCrunch

ICE HSI dismantles 'SIM farms' in nationwide cyber fraud crackdown ICE

Robinhood CEO’s X account hacked to promote Vladhood memecoin flagged as 'scam' The Block

Russian espionage group using novel Zimbra exploit to steal sensitive data from Western countries CyberScoop

Hackers hijack hotel Wi-Fi DNS to steal Microsoft 365 accounts BleepingComputer

🚚 TRAFFICKING

Cartel Member Who Trafficked Victims From Mexico to Chicagoland Into Forced Labor Sentenced to More Than 9 Years in Prison U.S. Department of Justice

Syrian authorities foil plots to smuggle 700,000 Captagon pills from Lebanon The National

Extradited Canadian American Woman Pleads Guilty for Role as Organizer of Deadly Alien Smuggling Conspiracy U.S. Department of Justice

Costa Rica captures top fugitive "Diablo," wanted by U.S. for alleged drug trafficking CBS News

Honduran man sentenced in Maryland for cocaine-for-murder deal The Washington Times

“To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.” —Ursula K. Le Guin

Share Illicit Edge with friends!

They can subscribe here for free and never miss a story.