Happy Friday! It’s October 18, and we’re tracking top stories to take you into the weekend: The role of crypto in terrorist financing, debanking of America, Olympic snowboarder wanted for running drug trafficking operation, inside the fraud factories fueling the Pig Butchering boom, and much more…

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🎯 Blockchain and Bloodshed: Role of Cryptocurrencies in Terrorist Financing. The rise in the use of privacy-oriented crypto such as Monero by ISK poses a significant challenge to AML/CFT efforts. Soufan Center

Top Stories

🌎 The Debanking of America. What do Muslims, January 6 rioters, and Melania Trump all have in common? They were kicked off the financial grid. Free Press

🌎 Olympic snowboarder wanted for running murderous drug trafficking operation. Ryan Wedding represented Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics – his operation shipped 827 pounds of cocaine in a single month. NBC

🌎 'They fall in love with me': Inside the fraud factories driving the online scam boom. Victims or "pigs" are persuaded to invest money in schemes until they're fat enough to slaughter. Sky

🚀 Illicit Edge Originals: Pig Butchering breakdown with Yaya Fanusie and Erin West Designated

🌎 This is how a Russian disinformation campaign starts. A video of a whistleblower with an unbelievable story to tell. NBC 

🌎 Putin's sanctions-busting shadow fleet is spilling oil all over the world. Satellite imagery shows the unforeseen consequences of efforts to hobble Russia’s war economy. Politico 

🇷🇺 U.S. laments disappointing Swiss decision not to fully adopt latest EU sanctions AP 

🌎 FBI Arrests SEC Hacker Linked to Fake Tweet Saying Bitcoin ETFs Were Approved. Eric Council Jr. hijacked the SEC's X account and handed control to co-conspirators. CoinDesk

🌎 OCC hits Florida bank over AML concerns. Maitland-based Axiom Bank agreed to revamp its BSA/AML program and look at its SARs. Banking Dive 

🌎 McKinsey Should Face Probe Over China Work. Republican lawmakers called for an investigation into the consulting firm, saying its leadership might have misrepresented the firm’s work. WSJ 

🌎 Brazilian police arrested the hacker who stole everyone’s SSN.  ‘Operation Data Breach’ may have found its target, but that won’t secure more than 270M Social Security numbers. Verge

Russia

🇷🇺 UK Issues Largest Sanctions Yet on Russian Shadow Fleet AFP 

🇷🇺 Russia Adds LNG Shadow Fleet Tankers With New Dubai-Based Firm Bloomberg 

🇷🇺 Swiss Authorities Investigate Firms Dodging Russia Sanctions Bloomberg 

🇷🇺 Russia bans fruit and veg from Kazakhstan after country refuses to join BRICS Politico

China

🇨🇳 Families of fentanyl victims ask U.S. for China tariffs over opioid crisis Reuters 

🇨🇳 U.S. Sees Growing China-Russia Cooperation on Arms Against Ukraine Bloomberg

🇨🇳 China’s Russia imports, hampered by payment sanctions, drop as exports swell SCMP

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Global Financial Watchdog To Focus On Risky Nations AFP 

💸 UN food agency failed to act as U.S. aid was looted in Ethiopia Reuters

💸 North Korea Imports $50M in Luxury Goods in Kim Gift Splurge Newsweek

💸 Headhunter Used Fake Identities to Dupe Wall Street Traders Bloomberg

💸 Alex Saab named Venezuela’s industry minister Miami Herald

💸 U.S. Renews Program to Root out Money Laundering in Real Estate Barron’s

Terror

💥 They Praised Hamas and Defended 9/11. Now They’re Headlining Taxpayer-Funded Summit. Free Beacon 

💥 French cement company to face trial for financing ISIS Politico 

💥 Iran Should Stay on the Terror Finance Blacklist Real Clear

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 U.S. charges Sudanese men with running powerful cyberattack-for-hire gang Axios 

🔐 AI helped the feds catch $1B of fraud in one year CNN

🔐 Fake Coinbase website leads to $20M fraud, 5-year sentence Cointelegraph

🔐 Do Kwon extradition delayed again by Montenegro Constitutional Court Protos

"The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right things." —Milton Friedman

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