Welcome to episode 264 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, coordinated international enforcement actions, strategic regulatory frameworks, and high-level institutional transitions highlight this week's global efforts to combat illicit finance. The United States Department of the Treasury designated a Brazilian financial network for allegedly laundering over $30 million in drug proceeds using cryptocurrency, while also issuing its annual filing reminder for blocked property. In Europe, the European Data Protection Board and the Anti-Money Laundering Authority began drafting joint guidelines to govern information sharing across the financial sector. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom assumed leadership of the Financial Action Task Force under Giles Thomson, who launched a dedicated roadmap to address global fraud, and the UK Trade Remedies Authority declined to disclose cyber breach data to prevent exploitation by threat actors. Finally, the week's domestic and developmental highlights include federal prison sentences for four individuals involved in a public corruption scheme in South Carolina, alongside a United Nations Development Programme analysis connecting national cybersecurity commitments to measurable GDP per capita growth.

A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial.

The photograph on the podcast cover art is by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels, and the stinger sample between each news section is ‘Ben Logo 1’ by BenKirb from Pixabay.