Hello Thursday! It’s June 4, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: How a carjacking in Connecticut led back to a crypto ‘Godfather’ in California, the U.S. is investigating two more Mexican governors for connections to cartels, Trump expands Cuba sanctions beyond US companies in major crackdown on foreign enablers, FBI raids $35M SoCal mansion of tech boss charged with sending secret shipments to Iranian military, nuclear programs, and much more…

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🎯 FEATURED STORY

How a carjacking in Connecticut led back to a man known as the crypto ‘Godfather’ in California. On a leafy Connecticut road in the summer of 2024, would-be kidnappers pulled a couple from their Lamborghini SUV, beat them in broad daylight and threw them into a van, only to be arrested shortly thereafter as multiple witnesses, including a passing off-duty FBI agent, called police. AP

🔥 TOP STORIES

The U.S. is investigating two more Mexican governors for connections to cartels Los Angeles Times

Trump expands Cuba sanctions beyond US companies in major crackdown on foreign enablers Fox News

Cuba to suspend Visa and Mastercard transactions, citing US sanctions Reuters

FBI raids $35M SoCal mansion of tech boss charged with sending secret shipments to Iranian military, nuclear programs New York Post

UAE denies role in Sudan genocide as Colombian mercenary scandal grows The Week

British schoolboy sanctioned by Russia for exposing crypto laundering The Times

Scam Center Strike Force Announces Results of U.S. & Private Industry ‘Disruption Week’ Justice Department

Member of an International Money Laundering Organization Pleads Guilty to Laundering Millions of Dollars in Drug Proceeds Justice Department

Trump’s Boat Strikes Have Failed to Curb Cocaine Flow to U.S., Experts Say New York Times

Iran Expands Handala Brand to Physical Threats Recorded Future

House Judiciary Committee Passes Legislation to Prosecute International Trade Crimes U.S. House China Select Committee

United States Announces $36.5 Million Settlement Of Medicare Fraud Lawsuit Against Matrix Medical Network Justice Department

AI-built ransomware toolkit automates EDR evasion, AD discovery BleepingComputer

🚩 RUSSIA & CHINA

Russian Billionaires Donate $3Bln to State Treasury as Deficit Widens Moscow Times

Xi’s surveillance state seeks to identify future dissidents The Times

USTR Seeks Public Comment on the Scope and Operation of a Mechanism to Promote Balanced and Reciprocal Trade with China USTR

Putin signs decree allowing Russian debtors to withhold bank deposits from foreign creditors The Insider

Armenia Asked to Freeze Magnitsky-Linked Funds OCCRP

EU slams Trump’s forced labor tariff as ‘unjustified’ Politico

💸 CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

Albania Freezes Assets in Kushner Resort Probe OCCRP

Justice Dept. obtained superseding indictment against Southern Poverty Law Center with new details on donor funds CBS News

How GAO Is Fighting Fraud and Reducing Improper Payments in Government Spending GAO

Why Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Won’t Go Away City Journal

Trump Clears Way for Companies to Avoid Taxes in Havens Including Malta and Cyprus New York Times

EU lawmakers vote to shield peers from Huawei scandal probe Politico

Millions in Cash, Gold, and Assault Rifles Seized in Arrest of Iraqi Oil Official OCCRP

🌎 SANCTIONS & TERROR

Trump Signs Order Directing Customs Crackdown Amid Trade Gaps Bloomberg

House Advances New Sanctions on Russia and Aid to Ukraine New York Times

Where Is Iran’s Highly Enriched Uranium? New York Times

Qatar’s Influence-Buying in America Is Even Worse Than We Thought Free Press

From Tehran to Havana: Cuba's role linking Islamic extremists and U.S. activists Washington Times

Norwegian teen, hired by Swedish crime group used by Iran, planned UK murder Reuters

Top AI CEOs Call for Law Protecting Against Biological Weapons Wall Street Journal

The Power of Prison in ISIS Propaganda GW Program on Extremism

The Making of a Teenage Terror Suspect Free Press

🔐 CRYPTO & CYBER

The worst hacks and breaches of 2026 (so far) TechCrunch

Dashlane issues opaque advisory warning 20 encrypted vaults were stolen Ars Technica

Ultrahuman says hackers accessed customers' wellness data via internal tool TechCrunch

CISA warns of active attacks exploiting Android, Linux bugs BleepingComputer

Instagram is alerting users who were targeted by hackers during AI chatbot attacks TechCrunch

CISA warns of cyberattacks targeting fuel tank monitoring systems BleepingComputer

VS Code zero-day lets hackers steal GitHub tokens in one click BleepingComputer

🚚 TRAFFICKING

Fake California store had hidden entrance to massive smuggling tunnel to Mexico -- as four charged New York Post

Cuban Man Pleads Guilty to Labor Trafficking Justice Department

Illegal Aliens Sentenced for Distribution of Kilogram Quantities of Fentanyl and Heroin in Myrtle Beach Justice Department

Mexico arrests suspected cartel figure tied to killing of Vizsla Silver workers Reuters

Leader of Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization Pleads Guilty to Supplying Dozens of Kilograms of Fentanyl, Heroin, and Cocaine from Mexican Cartel into Horry County Justice Department

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