Hello, Wednesday! It’s October 14, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: FBI arrests OpenAI employee accused of placing recording device in company conference room, Who Is Planting Backdoors in Ledger Crypto Wallets?, The Houthi Horror Show, Bank of America to Pay $1.2 Billion to Settle Violations of Money Laundering, Sanctions Laws, and much more…

***

Breaking News for FinCrime Professionals
Tell a friend to subscribe to Illicit Edge here!

🎯 FEATURED STORY

FBI arrests OpenAI employee accused of placing recording device in company conference room. The complaint does not detail what Alfozan might have wanted to do with any captured communications, but the company said the device was sophisticated, designed to evade detection and featured advanced encryption and audio monitoring capabilities. Associated Press

🔥 TOP STORIES

Who Is Planting Backdoors in Ledger Crypto Wallets? Zero Day

The Houthi Horror Show Tina Brown

Bank of America to Pay $1.2 Billion to Settle Violations of Money Laundering, Sanctions Laws Wall Street Journal

Treasury Targets Cartel del Noreste’s Horse Racing Enterprise and Expansive Criminal Network U.S. Treasury

Ken Paxton Partied in Dubai With Fugitives Ahead of High-Stakes Texas Senate Race Wall Street Journal

CFTC Staff Were Told to Retract Analysis of Suspicious Oil Trades Bloomberg

Terrorists are plotting drone attacks in Britain and could kill using bioweapons as AI 'supercharges' threats Daily Mail

F.B.I. Disrupts Pyongyang Revenue Stream: North Koreans in U.S. Tech Jobs New York Times

Inside The Secret Russian-Iranian Military-Energy-Pipeline Laundering Machine OilPrice

UK High Court rules Chinese law governs claims over $5 billion in seized bitcoin The Block

Founder of Canada-China relations group, Liberal donor faces deportation for ‘war crimes’ Global News

UK Sanctions Dutch Businessman Linked to Russian Arms Firms OCCRP

Russia condemns France's seizure of alleged sanctions-busting oil tanker Le Monde

Kimberly Guilfoyle asked to resign as US ambassador to Greece Politico

Malaysia's 1MDB in settlement talks with Deutsche Bank, report says Reuters

🚩 RUSSIA & CHINA

U.K. and Europe Recoil From Trump’s Diesel Deal With Putin New York Times

‘Super app’ aimed at UK students uses servers owned by Chinese firm on US blacklist Guardian

Inside accused Chinese spy Wanying Zhang's shady multimillion-dollar California real estate empire New York Post

Don’t hold your breath for Russia sanctions Politico

Former right-hand man of purged Chongqing chief Bo Xilai under investigation Reuters

State of Product reveals what AI still hasn’t solved

80% of product professionals say AI helps them ship faster, but customers aren’t seeing value any sooner. Atlassian’s State of Product 2027 explores the gains AI is delivering and the challenges that remain, from decision-making that hasn’t kept pace to gut instinct overriding customer evidence.

Read the report

🚀 SANCTIONS & TERROR

American Woman Who Is Accused of Joining ISIS Goes on Trial New York Times

Huawei, once hobbled by US sanctions, passes 100 million Kirin chip milestone South China Morning Post

Supreme Court to weigh if Nigerian who cooked for terrorists can be denied asylum NBC News

‘A foreign attack on EU territory’: MEPs call EU to shield ICC from US sanctions Politico

French anti-terrorism prosecutor takes over investigation into school shooting Reuters

US blockade keeps Iranian crude exports at zero in October Reuters

💸 CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

DOJ Targets Online Scam Accounts and Transnational Criminal Networks Operating in West Africa DOJ

FTC, States Ask Federal Court to Hold Martin Shkreli in Contempt for Allegedly Violating Lifetime Ban from Pharmaceutical Industry FTC

Former 49ers executive faces bribery charges in San Mateo County San Francisco Chronicle

Ex-Cyberport department head, 5 others, charged over HK$20 million tech subsidy fraud South China Morning Post

Prosecutors drop three impeachment charges against Philippine VP Duterte Reuters

EU ends anti-corruption funding curbs on Hungary, freeing €4.2bn Euronews

🔐 CRYPTO & CYBER

Russia’s largest bank Sberbank secures approval to trade crypto CoinDesk

KuCoin, BitMart, and MEXC blocked in South Korea as regulators target web access CoinDesk

Ransomware Attacks Have Swept Japan. A.I. May Be Making Them Easier. New York Times

Anthropic warns AI models may soon self-replicate and could wreak havoc on the web Reuters

TFG London cyberattack disrupts systems at Hobbs and Whistles retailers BleepingComputer

🚚 TRAFFICKING

Israeli gangs smuggle drugs into Jordan using balloons Telegraph

Mexican gang kidnaps officials to force detained member's release BBC

China sentences to death Myanmar scam clan members AFP

Mysterious fuel depot in Hidalgo may be linked to Jalisco New Generation Cartel ValleyCentral

20 green sea turtles returned to the ocean after Bali smuggling raid Associated Press

“A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.” — Mario Puzo, The Godfather

Share Illicit Edge with friends!

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