Hello Monday! It’s November 25, and we’re tracking top stories to start your week: How the Kremlin wrested control of vast flows of Kazakhstan’s crude, noodles and wine are the secret ingredients for a strange new twist in China’s doping saga, U.S. probes JP Morgan's links with Iranian oil trader, America’s rivals have a new favorite weapon: criminal gangs, and much more…

Featured Story

🎯 Putin’s pipeline: How the Kremlin outmaneuvered Western oil companies to wrest control of vast flows of Kazakhstan’s crude. ICIJ

🎙️ Illicit Edge Originals: The Corruption Continuum

Top Stories

🌎 Noodles and wine are the secret ingredients for a strange new twist in China’s doping saga. When his country’s swimmers were being accused of doping, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. AP 

🌎 US probes JPMorgan's links with Iranian oil trader's hedge fund. Hossein Shamkhani is the son of Ali Shamkhani, a long-time ally of Iran's supreme leader. Reuters 

📌 Iran Braces for Trump Reset With Economy Buckling From Sanctions Bloomberg

📌 Sanctions expectations in a second Trump administration Atlantic Council 

🌎 America’s Rivals Have a New Favorite Weapon: Criminal Gangs. Russia, China, and Iran are increasingly outsourcing their dirty work to drug traffickers, cybercriminals and paid assassins. WSJ 

🌎 Meta Finally Breaks Its Silence on Pig Butchering. The company gave details for the first time on its approach to combating organized criminal networks. Wired 

🎙️ Illicit Edge Originals: Pig Butcher Puzzle 

🌎 How Adani Bribe Case Will Test the Long Arm of US Law. Adani faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the three counts against him but would probably receive far less time. Bloomberg

🌎 They Investigated Pandemic Fraud, Then Earned Thousands. Private citizens are hunting for cases of fraud tied to small business loans. NYT

🌎 How ‘Scattered Spider’ hacked some of the world’s biggest tech giants and got caught.  To date, the group hacked Caesars Entertainment, Coinbase, DoorDash, Mailchimp, and dozens more. TechCrunch

💸 Arizona county treasurer admits to embezzling $38M in public funds to renovate luxurious ranch, buy 20 vehicles AP

Russia

🇷🇺 Turkey's Erdogan Seeks to Increase Trade With Russia AFP

🇷🇺 Winter is coming. So are Russia’s elite hackers. Politico 

🇷🇺 Russian Spies Jumped From One Network to Another in an Unprecedented Hack Wired 

🇷🇺 New U.S. sanctions spell end of EU energy payments through Gazprombank Reuters

🇷🇺 Perfume boss admitted he ignored Russia sanctions BBC

China

🇨🇳 Hong Kong Is Becoming Hub for Financial Crime WSJ

🇨🇳 US bars more food, metal imports over China's forced labor Reuters 

🇨🇳 Thai Medical Tycoon Wanted for Fraud Fled to China Bloomberg 

🇨🇳 US will unveil new export restrictions on China Reuters 

🇨🇳 Texas governor orders state agencies to sell China assets Reuters

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 FBI captures Medicare fraud fugitive in Italy after 20 years on lam MH

💸 A Corruption Case That Spilled Across Latin America Is Coming Undone NYT

💸 Enslaved on OnlyFans Reuters 

💸 Mexican cartel leader who faked death has been arrested in California CNN

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis CNBC

🔐 SEC Collects Record $8.2B in Financial Penalties in 2024 WSJ

🔐 Binance Boosts Compliance Staff by 34% Year-Over-Year CoinDesk 

🔐 North Korean Hackers Steal $10M with AI-Driven Scams on LinkedIn Hacker News

🔐 Looking Ahead: Blockchain and Its Impacts on Democracy, Finance, and National Security CFR

“A champion is someone who gets up when he can't.”
—Jack Dempsey

Share Illicit Edge with friends!

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