Happy Sunday! It’s December 21, and we’re tracking top stories to start the new week: TikTok’s deal to divest U.S. operations fails to satisfy China hawks, “fraud tourists" traveled to Minnesota after a friend told them state programs were a good opportunity to make money, ICE Arrests Worst of Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens, Can This Man Finally Defeat Mexico’s Cartels…? And much more…

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🎯 FEATURED STORY

TikTok’s deal to divest US operations fails to satisfy China hawks. TikTok’s secret sauce will be licensed from ByteDance by the US consortium. That could still open the app up to manipulation by the Chinese government. Semafor

🔥 TOP STORIES

Fraud tourists traveled to Minnesota after a friend told them state programs were "a good opportunity to make money” CBS News

ICE Arrests Worst of Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens DHS

Can This Man Finally Defeat Mexico’s Cartels? NYT

FBI says ‘ongoing’ deepfake impersonation of U.S. gov officials dates back to 2023 CyberScoop

📘 Featured Report: North Korea and the Industrialization of Cryptocurrency Theft TRM Labs

How the Global Threat From ISIS Lives On, Years After Its Caliphate Fell WSJ

US seizes second oil tanker off Venezuela's coast BBC

Tren de Aragua leader known as "The Unspeakable" charged in U.S. federal court CBS News

Pakistan court hands Imran Khan, wife 17-year jail terms in another corruption case NBC News

Multiple Identities Reveal Ties Between Chinese Businessman and Cambodian ‘Criminal’ Conglomerate OCCRP 

Visa Holder Charged After Smuggling E Coli Into US Newsweek

How Mexico’s Fuel Theft Market Went Transnational Small Wars Journal

Cryptocurrency site taken down over money laundering investigation CBS News

DOJ Agents Seize $8.5 Million in Cryptocurrency and Disrupt Investment Fraud Scheme DOJ

The Com: the growing cybercrime network behind recent Pornhub hack The Guardian

In rare public comments, career DOJ officials offer chilling warnings about online network 764 ABC News 

Hezbollah Is Down, but Not Out, as Lebanon Faces Pressure to Disarm It NYT

🚩 RUSSIA & CHINA

Scammers in China Are Using AI-Generated Images to Get Refunds Wired

How the Scamming of a Pro-Putin Pop Star Rattled Russia's Housing Market Moscow Times

Foreign ship gets penalty for illegally using Starlink within Chinese waters South China Morning Post

U.S. Clamps Down on Investment in Chinese Tech Companies WSJ

💥 SANCTIONS

US sanctions Iran-linked vessels The Hill 

Don’t Stop at a Single Oil Tanker WSJ

State Department to sanction ICC judges over Israel Politico

Ukraine attacks Russian ‘shadow’ tanker off Libyan coast The Guardian

Britain imposes more sanctions on Russia's energy sector Reuters

Rubio calls ‘status quo’ with Venezuela ‘intolerable’ as Trump admin sanctions Maduro family members CNN

UK sanctions militia groups over violence against Syrian civilians BBC

💸 CORRUPTION & FINANCIAL CRIME

Wondery Founder Hernan Lopez Breaks Silence as Justice Department Moves to Dismiss Long-Running Bribery Case Against Former Fox Executive Variety

Man charged with organized crime offenses after Dubai extradition BBC

Tech Company Executive Sentenced To Prison For Multimillion-Dollar Embezzlement Scheme And Tax Evasion DOJ

U.S. Slaps Travel Ban on Two Caribbean Nations Over “Golden Passports” OCCRP

Treasury Convenes Financial Institutions and Law Enforcement to Identify and Dismantle Money Laundering Networks FinCEN

Spain’s ruling party faces crunch regional poll amid corruption and harassment claims The Guardian

These 81 Investment Platforms Were Part of a Scam Network. Here’s What We Learned About Them. OCCRP

French police raid home of Culture Minister Rachida Dati in corruption probe Le Monde

The disaster-prone Philippines invested billions in flood control. Then officials looted the funds. CNN

California woman led a terrorist group from 'comfort of her suburban home' SFGATE

🔐 CRYPTO & CYBER

Crypto trader loses $50 million in address poisoning attack, offers $1 million bounty for return The Block

U.S. DOJ Charges 54 in ATM Jackpotting Scheme Using Ploutus Malware Hacker News

Jump Accused of Contributing to Collapse of Terraform, Do Kwon’s Crypto Empire WSJ

Former incident responders plead guilty to ransomware attack spree CyberScoop

Ukrainian national pleads guilty to Nefilim ransomware attacks CyberScoop

RansomHouse upgrades encryption with multi-layered data processing BleepingComputer

Brooklyn Man Charged in Phishing Scheme That Swiped $16 Million From Coinbase Users Decrypt

🚚 TRAFFICKING

Trump just legalized marijuana nationwide — here’s why potheads are rejoicing New York Post

Feds bust 16 ruthless Mexican Mafia-linked gangsters — ‘Lil Speedy’ was caught after losing a shoe New York Post

Members of Dangerous Human Smuggling Organization Extradited from Colombia DOJ

Ryan Wedding timeline: How Canadian went fom Olympic athlete to alleged drug kingpin ABC News

Justice Department Announces Results of Operation Relentless Justice DOJ

Ex-Cleveland kingpin, motorcycle gang leader, gets 10 years for laundering drug money Cleveland

“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” —Thomas Paine

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