Hello! It’s August 17, and we’re tracking top stories to take you through the weekend: How top companies bankrolled a Qatari influence operation, U.S. charges two men in $200M water vending machine Ponzi scheme, a radical answer to the fentanyl crisis, Tennessee wreck triggers $10M manhunt for cartel’s “The Grandfather”, and much more...

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⏰ Coming Soon!
AML — The Truth Hurts
Presented by Illicit Edge & Thomson Reuters

🎯 FEATURED STORY

How Top Companies Bankrolled a Qatari Influence Op. Pfizer and Amazon have funneled millions to the Attorney General Alliance, a nonprofit that brings state AGs to the gulf state. Free Beacon

🔥 TOP STORIES

DOJ, SEC charge two men in $200M water vending machine Ponzi scheme CNBC 

A Radical Answer to the Fentanyl Crisis Atlantic

Tennessee car accident leads to $10M bounty for Mexican drug cartel leader dubbed "The Grandfather" CBS

Trump Holds Back on New Sanctions After Putin Meeting MT

Sanctions Force Russia to Cancel $230M Icebreaker Contract United24

U.S. Sanctions Russia-Linked Garantex, Successor Grinex, and A7A5 Token Network Hacker News

UN Blacklists Hamas Over Conflict-Related Sexual Violence YNet

NY lawsuit against Zelle creator alleges features allowed $1B in thefts Record

Fed shutters crypto bank supervision program amid broader regulatory pullback Block

Will Iran Get off the FATF Blacklist in 2025? MEF

Why does the U.S. use secondary sanctions, and do they work? DW

Do Export Controls Erode the United States’ Lead—Or Protect It? CSIS

Intel shares jump after report of U.S. stake in chipmaker BBC

Join us live!
August 26 & 28 at 2pm ET

Sarah Beth Felix & Jim Richards live for two 1-hour AML briefings on enforcement, risk & what’s next — your questions, answered.

👉 Save your seat: [Register for Day 1] | [Register for Day 2]

🚩 RUSSIA & CHINA

Are Sanctions on Russia Working Three Years into the War? CFR 

Sony Pulls Out of Russia as Kremlin Tightens Controls on Foreign Influence Semafor

Bridgewater Exits All China Stocks in Q2 Filing SCMP

DeepSeek Delays New AI Model as Huawei Chips Fall Short Reuters

Nvidia H20 China Deal Moves from Ban to Licensed Sales Wired

🔐 CRYPTO & CYBER

Scammers turn to ‘ghost-tapping’ retail fraud to launder funds Record 

Tajikistan & Kazakhstan See Rise in Illegal Bitcoin Mining Decrypt

Binance joins as first member of T3+, the crypto crime unit founded by TRON, Tether, and TRM Labs Block

Brazilian Mom Held for Bitcoin Ransom After Kidnappers Stalk Crypto-Trading Son Decrypt

Why Digital Currency Group Is Suing Its Own Subsidiary Over $1.1B Loan Cointelegraph

💸 CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

World Economic Forum Clears Klaus Schwab of Wrongdoing WSJ

Peru Enacts Amnesty for Military and Police Accused of Abuses Guardian

Brazil’s Eduardo Bolsonaro Warns of More U.S. Sanctions and Possible Tariffs Reuters

Erdogan Calls It an Anticorruption Drive. His Rivals Call It a Political Crackdown NYT

Trump’s tariffs are forcing Canada to address its money laundering problem Hill

🚚 TRAFFICKING

U.S. Sanctions Timeshare Fraud Network Tied to Mexico’s Jalisco Cartel CBS 

In rare move, Singapore commutes drug trafficker’s sentence from death to life in prison SCMP

Hochul pardons ex-con migrants — including Laotian man who killed someone in 1990 NYP

🚨 Don’t miss out!
Two 1-hour AML briefings, Aug 26 & 28 with Felix & Richards.
👉 [Register for Day 1] | [Register for Day 2]

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