Greetings! It’s October 23, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: Binance's Gambaryan Free to Leave Nigeria, Turkey’s Halkbank Must Face U.S. Prosecution Over Iran Sanctions, FinCEN Hits Casino For BSA Violations, Moscow-Based Criminal Organization Pleads Guilty in $1.7B Telemedicine Scheme, and Much More…

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Featured Story

🎯 Binance's Gambaryan Free to Leave Nigeria for Medical Treatment After Money Laundering Charges Dropped.  Yuki Gambaryan illustrated the family's ordeal through a recent podcast besides other efforts to bring attention to the case. CoinDesk

Top Stories

🌎 Turkey’s Halkbank Must Face U.S. Prosecution Over Iran Sanctions Charges. The state-owned lender, accused of helping Iran evade sanctions, isn’t entitled to sovereign immunity. WSJ 

🌎 FinCEN Assesses $900,000 Penalty Against Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino. Lake Elsinore admitted to willful violations of the BSA, including failing to implement an effective AML program. FinCEN

🌎 Seven Members of Moscow-Based Criminal Organization Plead Guilty in $1.7B International Telemedicine Scheme. They Billed Fraudulent Prescriptions from Over 50 Pharmacies Nationwide. DOJ

Tigran Freed

An American Unjustly Detained in Nigeria (Part 1) (Part 2)

🌎 Scammers are stealing homes from under their owners' noses. AI is making it scarily easy.  Real Estate scammers operate by transferring a home's deed away from its rightful owners. Business Insider

🔐 Building Bridges to Tackle Pig Butchering Chainalysis 

🌎 Cocaine pizza: German police take out Düsseldorf drug ring.  The restaurant's "pizza No. 40" turned out dangerously addictive. DW

🌎 A dark web drug dealer at 20, he bought luxury cars and gold-plated guns. Then he got caught.  A Southern California duo face federal sentencing for selling tens of thousands of narcotics. LAT

🌎 The Secretive World of Russian Oil Tanker Insurance Revealed.  An open question since Russia’s invasion has been who’s insuring the tankers moving Moscow’s petroleum. Bloomberg 

🌎 Facing cash crunch, Hezbollah seeks to boost illegal drug sales in Europe.  Hezbollah has plunged into a financial crisis since Israel began escalating its attacks. VOA 

🚩 FinCEN Issues Alert to Financial Institutions to Counter Financing of Hizballah FinCEN 

🚩 How Iran-Hamas’ deadly alliance was born — in America NYP

🚩 US charges IRGC official, others in Iran-backed plot to assassinate journalist Reuters

🌎 US unveils new rules to block China, Russia and Iran from accessing bulk US data.  The rule would also apply to Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea. Reuters

🌎 Commerce Department blacklists dozens of groups over weapons-related violations.  The groups blacklisted included companies from China and the UAE. Politico 

🌎 Former Abercrombie C.E.O. Is Charged With Running Sex-Trafficking Ring.  Mike Jeffries, his partner, and another man were arrested Tuesday. ABC

🌎 Well-known priest shot dead after officiating Mass in Mexico state wracked by cartel violence.  Hundreds gathered to mourn the priest, an activist for Indigenous peoples and farm laborers. CBS

🚚 Drug Traffickers Launder Billions Through Remittances. Here’s How to Stop Them. CFR

Russia

🇷🇺 US to unveil new sanctions on Russia Reuters

🇷🇺 How a Russian oligarch’s $90M megayacht landed in U.S. custody WaPo

🇷🇺 Turkey blocks exports of military-linked goods to Russia after US warning Kyiv Independent

🇷🇺 Update to OFAC's list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) U.S. Treasury 

🇷🇺 A crack in the BRICS: Iran’s economic challenges take center stage at Russia’s summit Atlantic Council

China

🇨🇳 Huawei appears to still be using TSMC chips despite US sanctions Engadget 

🇨🇳 TSMC says it has alerted US of potential China AI chip curbs violation Reuters

🇨🇳 ASML Chief Sees US Pushing for More China Chip Restrictions Bloomberg 

🇨🇳 Evergrande says Shenzhen Stock Exchange imposes sanctions against unit Reuters

Corruption & Financial Crime

💸 Giuliani must give control of luxury items and Manhattan apartment to Georgia election workers CNN 

💸 Peru ex-president Toledo jailed for 20 years over involvement in Car Wash scandal Guardian 

💸 Kinahan gang boss who ran arms cache plot from prison to get lighter sentence Sky 

💸 Former Detroit-area mayor sentenced to prison in wire fraud, bribery case CBS

Crypto & Cyber

🔐 SEC fines four companies $7M for ‘misleading cyber disclosures’ regarding SolarWinds hack TechCrunch

🔐 Japanese Police Unravel Monero Laundering Operation in Major Fraud Case BeInCrypto

🔐 Liminal challenges WazirX accusations after $235M security breach Cointelegraph

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