All Articles

Austria’s chief financial watchdog, Financial Market Authority of Austria, has delivered a decisive administrative ruling against KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH, effectively blocking the cryptocurrency platform from onboarding new clients or rolling out new products after identifying serious deficiencies in its internal governance structure. The enforcement action followed the regulator’s determination that the company no longer retained the mandatory personnel required to oversee r

A 36-year-old assistant manager employed at a high-end watch boutique was brought before the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, where she claimed trial to 44 counts of money laundering involving a total of RM1.7 million. The accused, Miki Oshiro, entered a plea of not guilty after all charges were read out before three Sessions Court judges — Izralizam Sanusi, Azrul Darus and Norma Ismail. According to the charge sheets, Miki is alleged to have received RM1.7 million i

Binance CEO Richard Teng has publicly challenged a report published by The Wall Street Journal that claimed $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency transactions were connected to sanctioned Iranian entities. The exchange asserted that the article contained inaccuracies and misrepresented its compliance practices. In a statement dated February 23, 2026, Binance disclosed that it had sent a formal letter to the publication demanding corrections and a complete retraction. According to th

The European Central Bank has imposed administrative penalties totaling €12.18 million on J.P. Morgan SE after identifying long-running inaccuracies in the bank’s regulatory reporting. The sanctions stem from systemic errors in the calculation of risk-weighted assets, a core metric underpinning the resilience of the international banking system. Supervisors concluded that, for several years, the institution failed to present an accurate picture of its risk exposure due to def

The global digital identity ecosystem was jolted on November 11, 2025, when security researchers uncovered an unsecured database tied to identity verification provider IDMerit. The exposed repository contained an astonishing one billion personal records spanning twenty-six countries, marking one of the most consequential failures in the protection of sensitive financial and identification data in recent history. As an AI-driven identity verification service, IDMerit aggregate

Sweden’s financial regulator, Finansinspektionen, has announced a formal investigation into Swedbank over suspected shortcomings in customer due diligence procedures during a two-year period ending in 2025. The supervisory authority is examining whether the bank maintained adequate internal safeguards to prevent its systems from being misused by criminal organizations. The probe underscores the pivotal responsibility large retail banks bear in shielding the wider financial sy

Detectives in Nairobi have apprehended a second individual in connection with a multi-million shilling gold fraud scheme that allegedly swindled an American citizen out of USD 217,900. The suspect, Mohammed Noor Muhyadhin Mohammed, was arrested by officers from the Operation Support Unit on allegations of money laundering linked to a fraudulent gold transaction that had promised the delivery of 495 kilograms of gold but ultimately produced nothing. Authorities say the elabora

The Dutch gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has issued a penalty order against Polymarket, instructing the cryptocurrency-based prediction platform to halt its operations in the Netherlands or face fines that could reach as much as €840,000 ($994,147).   The regulator determined that the platform had violated national regulations by making its services available to Dutch users without the required gambling licence.   According to the KSA, the company responsible f

Sweden’s financial watchdog has issued a formal caution and imposed an administrative penalty of 80 million SEK (approximately 7.5 million euros) on Samhällsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB (SBB) after identifying serious deficiencies in the company’s financial reporting. The action follows an investigation by Finansinspektionen, which concluded that the firm failed to present an accurate picture of its consolidated financial statements for the 2021 fiscal year. According to the r

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority has unveiled a wide-ranging strategic initiative aimed at reducing the regulatory load on smaller financial institutions operating within Denmark’s banking sector. The project is designed to introduce a more proportionate supervisory framework for banks that operate primarily on a domestic basis and do not maintain complex or international business models. By concentrating on institutions with straightforward risk profiles, the autho

The laundering of illicit funds through global trade and consumer retail channels has expanded to levels never seen before, driven largely by criminal groups exploiting surrogate shopping networks commonly known as daigou. What began as a specialized consumer service designed to help buyers obtain authentic luxury goods or cheaper overseas inventory—especially for customers in mainland China—has transformed into a sophisticated, industrialized system for transferring illegal

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has released administrative ruling FIN-2026-R001, introducing sweeping regulatory relief tied to how financial institutions identify and verify the owners of legal entities. The new directive allows banks and credit unions to skip certain repetitive data collection requirements that had been mandatory under the 2016 Customer Due Diligence Rule. By shifting toward a risk-based compliance model rather than maintaining rigid account-triggered

Payments made using cryptocurrency to groups suspected of running human trafficking operations increased by 85% during 2025, with investigators tracing hundreds of millions of dollars in activity across public blockchain networks, according to new research released by Chainalysis. The U.S.-based blockchain intelligence company reported that the majority of this activity was tied to a rapidly growing criminal infrastructure centered in Southeast Asia, where scam compounds, ill

The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission has released a public enforcement statement detailing serious regulatory violations committed by Shelgeyr Limited, the company behind the Maverick Games brand. The action followed a comprehensive regulatory inspection that uncovered numerous breaches of the Gambling Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Code 2019. Investigators determined that the operator did not sustain adequate safeguards against fin

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has levied an administrative monetary penalty of CAD 107,250 against Manor Windsor Realty Ltd, citing multiple breaches of federal anti-money laundering requirements.   The penalty, issued on November 27, 2025, followed a detailed compliance review of the real estate brokerage based in Windsor. According to federal regulators, investigators uncovered four distinct compliance failures that violated Canada’s

The international financial sector has been shaken once again by revelations tied to the $4.3 billion settlement that was originally intended to transform how Binance manages high-risk financial activity.   New reporting published in February 2026 indicates that more than $1 billion in funds associated with Iranian actors allegedly flowed through the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange between early 2024 and late 2025. The situation underscores a growing conflict between

The Bank of Thailand has revealed that an unusually sharp rise in cash withdrawals in September 2025 was a direct consequence of expanded anti-money laundering enforcement that resulted in the freezing of accounts tied to online piracy and financial fraud.   Authorities explained that under existing anti-money laundering statutes, anyone convicted of laundering assets faces severe penalties, including prison sentences of up to ten years and fines ranging between 20,000 and 20

Brazil’s federal government is in the final stages of preparing a decree that would formally require digital age verification for online betting operators and pornographic websites, marking a significant expansion of child protection rules into the country’s digital sphere.   The measure is tied to the rollout of the ECA Digital law and would oblige platforms to confirm users’ ages using officially recognized credentials rather than relying on simple self-declaration mechanis

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has commenced legal proceedings against Kavlak Onal following his arrest at Murtala Muhammed International Airport after authorities discovered more than 1.45 million dollars in undeclared foreign currency in his possession. During testimony before the Federal High Court in Lagos, a Nigerian Customs Service officer described how the concealed money was uncovered during standard boarding checks for an Emirates Airlines flight. The a

Tunisia is preparing to modernise its gambling legislation through a newly proposed draft Bill designed to overhaul a regulatory framework that has remained largely unchanged for more than five decades.   The initiative comes in response to the rapid expansion of online and mobile gambling, sectors that have outpaced the scope of the country’s existing laws.   The proposal, put forward by 23 members of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, seeks to amend Decree L