Happy Monday! It’s December 23, and we’re tracking top stories to start your week: How tangling with Putin and Brad Pitt doomed Stoli vodka brand in U.S., Qatar to halt gas supplies to Europe if fined under EU due diligence law, drug trafficking Rio gangsters who see themselves as God's 'soldiers of crime', U.S. lifts bounty on Syrian rebel leader as West moves to deepen engagement, and much more…

💸 Illicit Edge Originals

Real Stories. Elite Experts. True Financial Crime.

Featured Story

🎯 Stoli on the rocks: Billionaire Stolichnaya vodka boss is firmly in the ruthless Russian president’s sights and has escaped poisoning and kidnapping attempts ordered by The Kremlin. NYP

Top Stories

🌎 Qatar warns it will halt gas supplies to Europe if fined under EU due diligence law Politico

🌎 The drug trafficking Rio gangsters who see themselves as God's 'soldiers of crime' BBC

🌎 U.S. lifts bounty on Syrian rebel leader as West moves to deepen engagement Semafor

🌎 For Syria’s Economy, the Way Forward Starts With Sanctions Relief NYT

🌎 How Scammers Are Using AI This Holiday Season to Steal Your Money WSJ

💥 Illicit Edge Originals: A U.S. Special Agent On The Silk Road DESIGNATED

🌎 Russia’s Daily Pipeline Gas Flows to China Set New Record Bloomberg

🌎 The Not-So-Secret Way Around U.S. Tariffs WSJ

🌎 Trump says it could be worth keeping TikTok in US for a little while Reuters

🌎 CFPB sues America's largest banks for 'allowing fraud to fester' on Zelle NBC

🌎 LockBit Developer Charged for Billions in Global Ransomware Damages Hacker News

🌎 Fed Acts on Lineage, Ends National Bank of Pakistan Cases Mirage

🚩 Global Magnitsky Designations; Counter Terrorism and Iran-related Designations; Publication of Legal Payments Rule U.S. Treasury

Russia

🇷🇺 The Global Hunt for Putin’s ‘Sleeper Agents’ WSJ 

🇷🇺 U.S. Grants Turkey Exemption From Sanctions on Gazprombank MT 

🇷🇺 Russia’s Economic Gamble: The Hidden Costs of War-Driven Growth Carnegie

🇷🇺 Report ties Romanian liberals to TikTok campaign that fueled pro-Russia candidate Politico

China

🇨🇳 Raimondo Says Holding Back China in Chips Race Is a ‘Fool’s Errand’ WSJ 

🇨🇳 U.S. plans to blacklist company that ordered TSMC chip found in Huawei processor Reuters

🇨🇳 U.S. prompts Nvidia probe into how chips ended up in China Reuters 

🇨🇳 Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign nets record number of ‘tigers’ in 2024 SCMP

🇨🇳 Export Controls, the Compute Gap, and China’s Counterstrategy CSIS

🇨🇳 China takes steps against Canada institutions, individuals over Uyghurs, Tibet Reuters

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Hollywood Elites Bankrolling Environmentalist Group Disrupting Events Across the U.S. Free Beacon 

💸 New Senate Report Decries Conflicts and Corruption at Supreme Court RS 

💸 Deutsche Bank to Pay $4M Over Subsidiary’s Reporting Practices WSJ 

💸 Aerospace firm AAR settles US charges over bribing foreign officials Reuters 

💸 Malawi seeks billions of dollars from U.S. firm over ruby sales BBC

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 How a Journalist Went From Exposing Mexican Cartels to Losing His Crypto Life Savings CoinDesk

🔐 Bankrupt Cryptopia exchange distributes $225M to hack victims Cointelegraph

🔐 Romanian Netwalker ransomware affiliate sentenced to 20 years in US prison Record

🔐 Ethereum and Solana NFT Scammers Charged in $22M Rug Pull Scheme Decrypt

“People say I stole a lot of bases. I stole the bases for a reason. I crossed the plate.” —Rickey Henderson

Share Illicit Edge with friends!

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