Hello, and welcome to episode 102 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast, I’m Chris Kirkbride. It has been a remarkably busy week this week. While the sanctions news was a limited, further action has been taken by the US against those facilitating Iranian sanctions evasion, but the main content this week comes in the form of bribery and market abuse news. In fact, there has been a noticeable trend over recent weeks in the number of stories relating to bribery and market abuse. Why? Maybe it’s the cost of living, but that argument falls down when you think of the wealth of some of the individuals concerned. Maybe it’s because they might be seen, wrongly in my view, as victimless crime. At least that used to be the view in relation to market abuse. Anyway, there is a load of news from those areas. In other news, the Financial Action Task Force has updated on the implementation of recommendation 15 by all FATF members and materially important virtual asset service providers. What else? Well, there’s a big report from Europol and the usual round-up of cyber-attack news. Let’s crack on.

As usual, I have linked the main stories flagged in the podcast in the description. These are:

Ajax, Supervisory Board suspends Alex Kroes due to strong indications of insider trading.

Cyber Safety Review Board, Review of the Summer 2023 Microsoft Exchange Online Intrusion.

Cyber Safety Review Board, Cyber Safety Review Board Releases Report on Microsoft Online Exchange Incident from Summer 2023 (press release).

Department of Justice, Swiss Commodities Trading Company Pleads Guilty to Foreign Bribery Scheme.

Department of Justice, Justice Department’s Investigation into International Commodities Trading Companies’ Foreign Bribery Schemes Results in Six Corporate Resolutions and 20 Individuals Convicted.

Department of Justice, United States Seeks Forfeiture of Former Mongolian Prime Minister's Luxury New York City Apartments Purchased with Proceeds of Corruption Scheme.

Department of Justice, Justice Department Seeks Forfeiture of $14 Million Manhattan Apartments Purchased with Proceeds of Mongolian Corruption Scheme.

Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Announces Charges In Four Separate Insider Trading Cases Against 10 Individuals, Including Drug Company Employees, Investment Firm Executive Director, And SPAC Investors.

European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA publishes latest edition of its newsletter (press release).

European Securities and Markets Authority, Spotlight on Markets.

Europol, Europol report identifies the most threatening criminal networks in the EU (press release).

Europol, Report: Decoding the EU’s most threatening criminal networks.

Europol, Europol press conference: Decoding the most threatening criminal networks (YouTube).

Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Countering Cyber Threats Through ‘Joint, Sequenced Operations,’ Director Says (press release).

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Director Wray's Remarks at the FBI and University of Kansas Cybersecurity Conference.

Financial Action Task Force, Status of implementation of Recommendation 15 by FATF Members and Jurisdictions with Materially Important VASP Activity.

Financial Conduct Authority, Stuart Bayes found guilty of insider dealing.

Gambling Commission, Bet365 to pay £582,120 for regulatory failures.

Home Office, Response to consultation on changes to bodies granted investigatory powers.

National Anti-Corruption Commission, Guidelines for participating in anti-corruption and investment confidence in Thailand.

Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury Targets Network Facilitating Shipments Valued in Hundreds of Millions for Iranian Military.

Securities and Exchange Commission, Litigation Release No. 25962 / April 2, 2024: Securities and Exchange Commission v. Treusch, No. 1:24-civ-01050 (E.D.N.Y. filed Feb. 11, 2024).

The White House, Water and Wastewater cyber-attack letter.

UK Statutory Instruments, The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (References to Financial Investigators) (England and Wales and Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2024 SI No 425.