Happy Friday! It’s September 25, and we’re tracking top stories to take you into the weekend: The ‘Monster’ Behind Russia’s Global Effort to Evade Western Sanctions, Bitget 'Potentially Hacked' as $183 Million Vanishes From Exchange Wallets, Mexican cartels target Australia with their African meth, Sanctions Aren’t Enough to Curb These Terror-Linked Groups, and much more…

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🎯 FEATURED STORY

The ‘Monster’ Behind Russia’s Global Effort to Evade Western Sanctions. A Moscow firm uses shell companies and cryptocurrency to launder money, and a custom app to forge trade records, to help Russia bypass sweeping financial restrictions. New York Times

🔥 TOP STORIES

Bitget 'Potentially Hacked' as $183 Million Vanishes From Exchange Wallets Decrypt

Mexican cartels target Australia with their African meth AFP

Sanctions Aren’t Enough to Curb These Terror-Linked Groups City Journal

Rosneft billions fed Kremlin-backed money laundering network Financial Times

US-Based Digital Forensics Firm Hid its Russian Ownership from U.S. Government Customers Zero Day

COO Pleads Guilty for Role in $500M COVID-19 Test Billing Fraud DOJ

New York sues Polymarket, accuses company of running illegal gambling operation NY Post

HSI Dallas dismantles sex-trafficking, money-laundering organization ICE

Massachusetts Is Investigating Gambling Companies’ Use of A.I. New York Times

US Federal Reserve proposes new stablecoin rules Reuters

China sent Iran 1,300 air shipments of weapons parts Iran International

Rydox cybercriminal marketplace operator pleads guilty following co-conspirator brothers’s deportation Record

Uzbek National Extradited to the United States to Face Charges for Providing Material Support to Foreign Terrorist Organizations DOJ

🚩 RUSSIA & CHINA

Pentagon investigates after F-35 stealth fighter jet parts end up in China AP

Volexity spots another China-aligned threat group exploiting Chrome and Microsoft defects CyberScoop

Rwanda’s Top Bank Joins Yuan Link as Africa-China Trade Grows Bloomberg

Croatian court approves extradition of Nord Stream blast suspect to Germany AP

Rare Earth Trade Report Silverado Policy Accelerator

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🚀 SANCTIONS & TERROR

UAE Central Bank bars Bank Melli Iran from conducting transactions The National

Malaysia Is a Lifeline for Iran Wall Street Journal

EU sanctions Russian pundit Xenia Fedorova after expulsion from France AFP

Frenchwoman who joined Islamic State in Syria faces trial in Paris Courthouse News

Two Iranian officials to face trial in absentia over 1994 attack on Argentinian Jewish center Jerusalem Post

Recently Released ISIS Audio, Pro-ISIS Propaganda, Offer to Share Explosives Guides Located on TikTok Counter Extremism Project

Mosque attack highlights evolving extremism landscape that has brought Pakistan-Afghanistan ties to crisis point The Conversation

💸 CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

Fraud-plagued nonprofit reaches $18.5 million settlement with state Star Tribune

Six indicted in Baltimore drug ring that allegedly laundered money through laundromat CBS News

Indonesia court reduces Gojek founder's sentence to 9 years in appeal hearing Reuters

Austrian property magnate Benko sentenced to prison Swissinfo

Fired ‘We Buy Ugly Houses' franchisee sentenced to federal prison for fraud scheme NBC

Former Anti-Corruption Official Among Two Iraqi Lawmakers Jailed for Illicit Enrichment OCCRP

🔐 CRYPTO & CYBER

FBI Hack Exposed FBI’s Own Hacking Unit 404 Media

Revolut reveals customer data breached twice this month Protos

Hackers drain $7 million from crypto casino Duelbits in suspected private key compromise CoinDesk

Beyond the ransomware: Tracking Storm-2570’s consistent tradecraft across deployments Microsoft Security

🚚 TRAFFICKING

The Mafia may be keeping fentanyl out of Italy The Economist

Inside France’s Push to Stop Migrant Boats to the U.K. New York Times

Drug Ringleader at Popular New York Tourist Destination Convicted of Causing Deadly Overdoses People

Police arrest 36 in raids on Vietnamese crime gangs across Scotland BBC

14 Individuals Charged in Joint Federal and State Investigation of Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Organization DOJ

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

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