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Greetings! It’s December 19, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: ‘Loco Gringo’ takes on the Mexican cartels, the cost of missing sanctioned connections in a globalized fraud ecosystem, Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to TikTok ban, Russian oligarchs turn ire on central banker, and much more…

💸 Illicit Edge Originals

Corporate America’s China Challenge on Coercive Capital with Elaine Dezenski

Featured Story

🎯 ‘Loco Gringo’ Takes On the Mexican Cartels. Sheriff Roy Boyd had an idea: Instead of letting human smugglers pass from one county to the next, sheriffs’ departments could collaborate to rid Texas of the cartels. It’s working. Free Press

Top Stories

🌎 Fraud Funding Terrorism? The Cost of Missing Sanctioned Connections in a Globalized Ecosystem Recorded Future

💥 Illicit Edge Originals: Uncovering Pig Butchering with Erin West and Yaya Fanusie Designated

🌎 Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to TikTok ban NBC 

🌎 Unable to Criticize Putin, Russian Oligarchs Turn Ire on Central Banker WSJ 

🌎 Dutch prosecutors drop criminal cases against former ING, ABN executives Reuters

🌎 $100K Loan for Porsche at Center of Charges Against Former Adams Aide Reuters

🌎 U.S. tech continues to power Russian weapons despite export controls NBC

🌎 Chinese spy who ran ‘secret police station’ in NYC faces 5 years after guilty plea NYP

🌎 Biden Clemency for Drug Kingpin Devastates Detective Who Took Her Down Free Beacon

🌎 A Mom Asked for Public School Board Records. They Charged Her $33M. Free Press

🌎 How to Lose a Fortune with Just One Bad Click Krebs

Sanctions

💥 Why Europe and America should begin lifting measures on Syria ECFR 

💥 US slaps sanctions on companies tied to Nord Stream 2 in bid to squeeze Russia Fox

💥 US imposes more sanctions over Pakistan's missile program Reuters

💥 US senators threaten sanctions against Turkey over Syrian ceasefire proposal VOA

💥 US blacklists Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik's sanctions evasion network UPI

Russia & China

🚩 Russian Guns and Iranian Drones Fuel Sudan's Civil War Bloomberg

🚩 North Korea can produce ballistic missiles for Russia to use against Ukraine in months Hill

🚩 China Executes Former Official in $412M Corruption Case Bloomberg

🚩 Despite Corruption Problems, China Progresses Toward Modernization U.S. DOD

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 DOJ alleges ex-congressman acted as unregistered foreign agent of sanctioned Venezuelan businessman Hill

💸 Corruption case against ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy upheld by country’s highest court CNN 

💸 How criminal networks exploit legal businesses to strengthen their grip on the economy Europol 

💸 Malaysian court clears Najib’s wife of money-laundering charges SCMP 

💸 Foreign National Mexico Pleads Guilty to Leadership Role in Prolific Human Smuggling Conspiracy DOJ

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 How the ransomware attack at Change Healthcare went down: A timeline TechCrunch 

🔐 Europol Seizes $26M in Crypto From 9 Drug Traffickers Decrypt 

🔐 CISA urges senior government officials to lock down mobile devices amid Salt Typhoon Record 

🔐 Inside INTERPOL’s probe into cyber-enabled human trafficking Interpol

“It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.” —Jerry Seinfeld

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