Financial Crime Weekly Episode 281

Welcome to episode 281 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, on sanctions, the US has designated Russian financial institution VTB Bank, while OFSI has issued clarified guidance on crediting interest to frozen accounts. Under money laundering enforcement, the UK government has launched a £500 million strategy recruiting 500 specialist investigators, and former Venezuelan Minister Alex Saab has pleaded guilty in the US to bribery-linked money laundering charges. In corruption and lobbying reforms, Ukraine and the Council of Europe have evaluated the first year of national lobbying legislation. On fraud, US authorities advanced major enforcement actions, including Abbott Laboratories' $384 million False Claims Act settlement, pandemic relief fraud convictions, and extraditions targeting the Black Axe criminal network. On market abuse, developments include insider dealing proceedings against a UK City lawyer, securities fraud charges against a New York hedge fund founder, and guilty pleas in a $3.7 billion insider trading scheme. Finally, in asset recovery and legal sector enforcement, a court has extended a £10 million Account Freezing Order on Premier League royalty funds tied to the Sorare gambling prosecution, and the FCA has banned a former law firm manager following a £28 million client money misappropriation.

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.