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A federal court has sentenced Derek Rockette, a 53-year-old resident of St. Louis, Missouri, to 15 years in prison after investigators uncovered his role in a long-running drug trafficking organization that laundered approximately $1.5 million in criminal proceeds through a series of sophisticated domestic and international financial channels. The case, which stemmed from a Comprehensive Money Laundering Network (CMLN) investigation, exposed how proceeds generated from narcot

Cambodia’s gaming regulator is moving forward with plans to conduct nationwide inspections and evaluations of casinos as part of a broader effort to reinforce oversight and governance of the country’s commercial gambling industry. According to an official update published on the Commercial Gambling Management Commission of Cambodia (CGMC)’s Facebook page on July 20, officials met to review preparations for the upcoming casino evaluations while also discussing the regulator’s

Uganda’s National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board (NLGRB) has stepped up its nationwide campaign against illegal gambling, announcing that more than 6,000 unlicensed gaming machines have been confiscated under Operation "Mashine Haramu." The latest phase of the enforcement initiative resulted in the seizure of an additional 215 illegal gaming machines across the West Nile region. The operation is being conducted jointly by the NLGRB and the Uganda Police Force as part o

Italian authorities have seized a substantial quantity of undeclared investment gold after customs officers discovered more than 62 kilograms of bullion concealed in the luggage of two passengers arriving at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Fiumicino on a commercial flight from Spain. The operation, carried out jointly by the Guardia di Finanza's Fiumicino Group and officials from the Lazio 2 Office of the Customs and Monopolies Agency, resulted in the administrative seizu

The Singapore Police Force Cyber Command, working in close coordination with the Royal Malaysia Police, has secured the extradition and prosecution of a 28-year-old Malaysian national accused of participating in a sophisticated cross-border money laundering operation that exploited digital banking infrastructure to move illicit funds across international borders. The case represents a major regional enforcement success against organized financial crime and highlights the incr

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has warned that significant regulatory gaps in the oversight of decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms are creating opportunities for money launderers, cybercriminals and sanctioned actors to exploit blockchain-based financial services. In a newly published targeted report, the international standard setter outlines how many jurisdictions have yet to identify DeFi arrangements that fall within existing anti-money laundering (AML) and cou

Century Entertainment International Holdings will remain suspended from trading after the Hong Kong Stock Exchange introduced additional requirements that the company must satisfy before its shares can be reinstated. The expanded resumption conditions include the publication of all outstanding financial results, the resolution of audit-related issues, and the completion of an independent review of the company’s internal control framework. The company’s shares have been suspen

The 7th Targeted Update on Implementation of the FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers highlights how the rapid integration of digital assets into the international financial system has progressed much faster than the development of coordinated regulatory and supervisory frameworks. Although international standard-setting organizations have introduced comprehensive benchmarks governing the supervision of virtual assets and virtual asset service

Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has issued a legally binding administrative order requiring Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba) to address significant shortcomings in its anti-money laundering framework after supervisory examinations identified systemic weaknesses in the bank’s transaction monitoring systems and internal risk management processes. The regulator found critical deficiencies affecting the institution’s ability to detect su

The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) is reinforcing its efforts to combat illegal gambling by expanding cooperation with international regulators and establishing a dedicated Intelligence and Enforcement Division to strengthen oversight beyond the regulated market. In a statement released on July 20, the regulator outlined a series of initiatives designed to improve the detection of unlawful gambling activities, enhance cross-border regulatory collaboration,

Philippine casino operators are entering a period of intensified regulatory oversight after the issuance of PASED Advisory No. 2026-005 on July 13, 2026. Through the advisory, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) formally released its second Casino Sector Risk Assessment, covering the years 2021 through 2024. The assessment assigns the regulated casino sector an overall High risk rating for money laundering and a Medium-High risk rating for terrorism finan

Sri Lanka's plans to introduce the first regulations under its newly established unified gambling regulatory framework have been pushed back after authorities failed to meet their June 30 deadline and did not announce a new timetable for implementation. The proposed regulations are still undergoing review by experts before they can advance through the remaining stages of the legislative process. Once the review is completed, the draft regulations must be submitted to the Atto

Sen. Joel Villanueva has expressed support for proposed amendments to the country's anti-money laundering legislation, stating that law enforcement authorities require broader legal powers to effectively respond to increasingly sophisticated financial crimes while ensuring that any expansion of authority is accompanied by adequate safeguards against misuse. To advance these reforms, Villanueva filed Senate Bill 1983, a measure designed to strengthen the country's anti-money l

Singapore law enforcement agencies have launched a sweeping nationwide enforcement operation targeting suspected money mules, with offenders facing penalties of up to $500,000 under the country's stringent anti-money laundering legislation. The large-scale operation, conducted by the Commercial Affairs Department together with the seven Police Land Divisions, resulted in 579 individuals being placed under investigation for allegedly facilitating the movement of illicit funds

Two alleged leaders of a Chinese money laundering organization are facing potential prison sentences of up to 20 years following federal charges tied to an extensive investment fraud operation. Prosecutors have unsealed an indictment accusing the defendants of directing a sophisticated laundering network that allegedly processed more than $43 million in funds stolen from fraud victims. According to the charges, the organization operated between 2020 and 2022 across multiple l

Kenyan families have been given new legal authority to intervene when a relative's gambling behavior threatens household finances or the welfare of dependants following the introduction of comprehensive new gambling regulations. The Gambling Control (Conduct of Gambling Operations) Regulations, 2026, which were published in the Kenya Gazette on June 30, establish a legal framework allowing family members and other interested parties to apply to the Gaming Regulatory Authority

Somewhere in Morocco this month, a football supporter watches an online stream of a match that was never officially sold by a licensed broadcaster, while advertisements for a betting company appear alongside the action despite the operator having no Moroccan gambling license, paying no local taxes, and operating outside the authority of domestic regulators. Across Africa, this same pattern has become increasingly common, reflecting the scale and complexity of an online gambli

Swedbank and its New York branch have agreed to pay a $50 million penalty to settle an investigation that found the institution failed to provide regulators with critical information about relationships linked to the Panama Papers leak. The inquiry determined that the bank did not carry out adequate due diligence on shell companies associated with customers identified in the leak and repeatedly failed to fully comply with official requests for information concerning its ties

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has stepped up its investigation into self-proclaimed godman Ashok Kharat by filing a money laundering chargesheet against him, his wife Kalpana Kharat, and four other individuals before a special court. The agency has also attached assets valued at ₹36.90 crore as part of its ongoing probe into allegations that Kharat exploited women through claims of possessing "mind reading" abilities and by manipulating their emotions in order to defraud t

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is calling for a comprehensive overhaul of regulatory frameworks as large technology companies continue expanding into areas traditionally dominated by banks, warning that stronger supervision is needed to safeguard global financial stability. While the IMF believes the current impact on the financial system remains limited, it cautions that the rapid growth of these companies across payment services, lending, insurance, and asset managem