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Greetings! It’s September 24, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: El Chapo’s wife returns to fashion catwalk in Milan, Philip Morris makes billions in Moscow, Egmont Group suspends Colombia for leaking info, how Venezuelan gang used NYC migrant shelters to build criminal empire, and much more…

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Featured Story

🎯 Emma Coronel, wife of El Chapo, returns to the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week after prison stint.  She re-entered the modeling world in a dramatic wedding dress by designer April Black Diamond. Daily Mail

Top Stories

🌎 Kremlin Cash Cow: After Pledging To Leave Moscow Over Ukraine War, Tobacco Giant PMI Stays Put – and Rakes In Billions From Russian Sales. Free Beacon

🚩 Why U.S. Sanctions Are Losing Some Bite Bloomberg

🚩 Turkey calls for U.S. to lift sanctions hindering defense purchases Reuters

🌎 AML group suspends Colombia after President Petro declassifies confidential report. Colombia will no longer have access to a secure web used by the group to share data on financial crimes. AP

🌎 How bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua used NYC migrant shelters to build a criminal empire. The gang is overwhelming both average New Yorkers and the city’s elite police force. NYP 

🚚 Chicago gangs clash with Venezuelan Tren de Aragua members: ‘Blacks against migrants’ Fox

🌎 China Probes Calvin Klein Parent Over Suspected Xinjiang Boycott. PVH could be added to an “unreliable entity list” that prevents offending foreign companies from trading. Bloomberg

🌎 Minister who brought F1 to Singapore pleads guilty in high-profile corruption trial. The investigation has shocked the nation, known as one of the least corrupt countries. Independent

🌎 Telegram says it will now turn some bad actors’ data over to law enforcement. Two weeks after his arrest, Durov acknowledged that the app’s abrupt increase in users made it easier for criminals to abuse the platform. CNN

💸 Ex-NYC Covid czar fired after he admits attending parties during pandemic NBC 

🌎 U.S. Inquiry Into N.Y. Mayor’s Foreign Ties Said to Include 6 Countries. Prosecutors investigating Mayor Adams’ ties to Turkey issued subpoenas for records related to 5 other countries. NYT 

🌎 U.S. urges Israel to extend banking relations with Palestinian banks for a year. The banking correspondence authorization is due to expire on Oct. 31, posing risks to transactions valued at $10B. Reuters

🌎 Why West Africa is now the world's terrorism hotspot. Burkina Faso topped a Global Terrorism Index for the first time this year. Reuters 

🌎 How Harvard Divinity Teaches Hate. I attended the nonsectarian theological school and got an unexpected immersion in the antisemitism overtaking higher education. Free Press

Visit Illicit Edge for more top stories…

Russia

🇷🇺 Iran’s Russia Problem Atlantic 

🇷🇺 Russia Keeps the Money Rolling in for Putin’s War in Ukraine Bloomberg 

🇷🇺 How Wagner’s Mining Operations Entangled With Global Systems C4ADS 

🇷🇺 In Russia, some crypto miners go underground Reuters 

🇷🇺 Ukraine says China is key route for foreign tech in Russian weapons Reuters

China

🇨🇳 Credit Agricole in Talks to Invest in Guangzhou Auto Unit Bloomberg

🇨🇳 Huawei shows China’s supply chain resilience amid trade sanctions SCMP 

🇨🇳 China’s chip-making sees steady progress with new tools, but nothing to rival ASML SCMP

Trafficking

🚚 Migrant crime crisis comes to Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, playgrounds for rich and famous Fox

🚚 Kids as young at 8 are drugged and trafficked into the US by smugglers posing as their parents NYP 

🚚 He told followers he was the son of God. She helped get him arrested on trafficking charges LAT

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Diddy knew to pay off $19M mortgage on Miami mansion before arrest NYP 

💸 She exposed a welfare fraud scandal, now she risks going to jail USAT 

💸 Mike Lynch’s widow hit with €222 million claim from lawyers of Bayesian superyacht builder Fortune 

💸 In Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, bucolic landscapes belie a darker underbelly ICIJ 

💸 Vietnam Ex-Government Accountant Sentenced to Death for Theft Bloomberg 

💸 Lack of City of London oversight hurting efforts to halt dirty money Guardian

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 Crypto scammers hack OpenAI’s press account on X TechCrunch 

🔐 PA health system agrees to $65M settlement after hackers leaked nude photos CNN

🔐 Caroline Ellison, key witness in FTX fraud case, set to be sentenced ABC 

🔐 Sweden sees crypto exchanges as professional money launderers Cointelegraph

“When a society loses its moral compass, it collapses from within."
– G.K. Chesterton

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