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Public Records, FinCEN Files Show Kaloti Network Poses Risk of Sourcing Illicit Gold and Money Laundering
The illicit gold trade continues to challenge global anti-money laundering (AML) efforts, as shown in “the FinCEN Files,” a collection of more than 2,100 leaked Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed by financial institutions with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial...
Corporate Data Shows 30+ Companies List Address Inside Sanctioned Paraguayan Shopping Mall
Almost fifteen years have passed since the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Paraguayan shopping mall Galeria Page for allegedly serving as a key financial support center for Hezbollah in South America. At the time of...
Public Records Reveal UAE Network Behind Alleged Supplier of Iranian Ballistic Missile Equipment
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Iranian conglomerate Mammut Industries and its subsidiary Mammut Diesel last month for allegedly providing military-grade, dual-use goods to an entity involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program....
Lebanon’s Distributors Database Provides Insight Into Third-Party Risk
The Lebanese Ministry of Economy and Trade maintains a publicly available, electronic database documenting contracts between international companies and Lebanese third-party distributors. Details show that some Lebanese distributors are possibly re-exporting American...
Identifying the XPCC’s Highest-Risk Entities
Last month, we reported on the sprawling holdings of the OFAC-sanctioned Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a massive Chinese conglomerate with hybrid paramilitary-corporate structure. The XPCC was sanctioned for its alleged involvement in human rights...
Tracing Trade Patterns of Alleged Wildlife Traffickers: The Wu Criminal Organization
A transnational network engaged in wildlife trafficking, shark finning, drug trafficking, and money laundering was dismantled by federal and local law enforcement earlier this month, according to a United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announcement. The Wu...
U.S. Restricts Imports from Select Xinjiang Entities, While Considering Legal Implications of Wider Import Bans
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Monday it would delay an industry-wide ban of tomato and cotton produced in Xinjiang, a region in Northwest China. Our research shows that if such a ban were enacted, over 2,600 Chinese entities could be barred...
Unraveling a clothing import tax fraud, customs violation scheme in L.A.’s Fashion District
A clothing importer based in the Los Angeles Fashion District recently agreed to plead guilty to charges related to his company’s tax fraud scheme, money laundering, and customs violations, resulting in nearly $118 million in fines. The company owner, Sang Bum “Ed”...
U.S. Import Restrictions on Xinjiang Cotton and Tomatoes Could Impact At Least 2,600 Chinese Firms
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intends to impose restrictions on cotton and tomato imports from China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), according to Reuters. We found over 2,400 companies in Xinjiang linked to cotton and over 240 companies linked...
Known Associate of Prominent Brazilian Money Launderer Maintains Corporate Network Spanning Four Countries
A federal court in Rio de Janeiro recently approved the cooperation agreement of one of Brazil’s most prominent money launderers — Dario Messer. While the deal may signal the end of Messer’s criminal case in Brazil, the extent of his money laundering network — which...
Historic Counterfeit Cigarette Case Highlights Vulnerabilities in Middle East Tobacco Markets
Jordan is witnessing the largest corruption trial in its history, known locally as Qadhiiyat Al-Dukhan (the smoke case). The trial began in the summer of 2018 amidst major protests and the arrival of a new prime minister, Omar Al-Razzaz. This trial has now become a...
Leveraging Public Records to Uncover High-Risk North Korean Shipping Networks: The Case of Northern Luck
A joint investigation by NK Pro and the Royal United Services Institute’s (RUSI) Project Sandstone revealed in July that North Korean-flagged vessels have returned to pre-pandemic levels of coal smuggling activities using a busy maritime route between the Democratic...
Bahrain Sentences Three Central Bank of Iran Officials for Money Laundering
Bahrain’s High Criminal Court charged three bank officials last week to five years in prison, respectively, for their involvement in a money laundering case tied to the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks, according to the Bahrain News Agency. The Court also...
The Dark Side of Beauty: An Overview of the Counterfeit Cosmetics Industry
The rapid expansion of counterfeit cosmetics internationally and in the U.S. poses a public health risk for consumers and threatens the bottom lines of countless makeup companies. The global cosmetics industry is valued at approximately $523 billion and is expected...
Presunto traficante de fentanilo asociado a una red corporativa en Sinaloa, México
Una investigación reciente realizada por Sayari reveló una red corporativa con sede en México relacionada con una persona sospechosa de suministrar fentanilo ilegal al Cártel de Sinaloa. Sayari utilizó los registros corporativos y de marcas comerciales de México para...
Child Labor in the DRC: Big Tech and the Automotive Industry’s Cobalt Supply Chain Problem
International mining conglomerates could be supplying cobalt mined by child laborers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to leading technology companies and automotive manufacturers, according to public records and open-source information. An ongoing federal...
Convicted Synthetic Drug Importer Controls Network of Pharmaceutical Companies in India
An Indian businessman who pleaded guilty in December to drug importation, smuggling, and money laundering charges is connected to a broader network of India-based pharmaceutical companies, according to public records. At least two of the companies have sent over 400...
Arrest of Azerbaijani Ambassador Possibly Linked to Arms Sales by Sanctioned Entity
Members of the State Security Services of Azerbaijan (SSSA) arrested the Azerbaijani ambassador to Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina on corruption charges, Azeri government sources reported last Thursday. The arrest of Eldar Hasanov Humbet oglu is the latest...
What We Can Learn from Jordan’s Foreign Investment Laws
Since the mid-1990s, Jordan has steadily moved away from a centrally planned economy — in which the state plays a central role in the manufacturing and distribution of goods — and toward a private one in order to improve the country’s economic prospects. This shift...
Wine Fraud, Intellectual Property Right Infringement, and Risk: An Introduction
Recent law enforcement investigations make clear that counterfeit wine production and distribution is a multi-billion dollar global problem. With frequent product seizures across Southern Europe and trademark infringement suits brought against suppliers in East Asia,...
Alleged Honduran Drug Trafficker Linked to Vast Corporate Network Operating in Various Industries
An alleged Honduran drug trafficker arrested by U.S. authorities in March is connected to a vast corporate network spanning multiple industries in Honduras, according to public records. The companies purportedly operate in several key Honduran economic sectors,...
Alleged Counterfeit Face Mask Manufacturer Linked to Broader Network of Technology and Packaging Companies in China
The shareholders of a Chinese company accused of manufacturing and exporting close to 500,000 counterfeit N95 masks to the United States are linked to several additional Chinese companies operating in a variety of industries, according to public records. These...
Public Records Highlight Global Network of Company Tied to Uyghur Forced Labor
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently added 11 Chinese companies implicated in human rights abuses committed against the Uyghur population and other Muslim minorities in China — specifically forced labor — to its Entity List....
Trade Data Reveal Shipments to Sudanese Mining Company Linked to Russian Paramilitary Group
A recently sanctioned Sudanese mining company linked to a prominent Russian paramilitary organization received over 800 shipments from five Russia-based businesses in the last three years, according to commercial trade data. The shipments included different types of...
Recent Article Suggests U.S. Cash Flows to Iraqi Dollar Auction Inadvertently Supports Bad Actors
The New York Times Magazine published an article last week covering what the author calls the Iraqi kleptocracy — a structure unintentionally reinforced by a yearly injection of cash from the United States into Iraq’s banking sector. In light of this reporting, we are...
U.S.-Sanctioned Xinjiang Paramilitary Has Over 800,000 Holdings Worldwide
On Friday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) for their role in human rights abuses against Uyghurs in what is potentially one of the largest single actions in...
Company Linked to Alleged Covid-19 Relief Fraud Maintains Several Trade Names in Florida
Federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint last Friday against a Florida-based businessman, alleging that he fraudulently obtained close to $4 million from a government-sponsored coronavirus relief program. David Tyler Hines controlled four South Florida-based...
Jordanian Businessman Implicated in Corruption Scheme Maintains Vast Real Estate Network in the UK
Popular protests and the Jordanian government’s recent actions targeting high-ranking officials accused of corruption have led to renewed interest in the case of Walid Ismael Najam Al-Din Al-Kurdi. The Jordanian-British businessman was charged in a corruption scheme...
Swiss Banks Request Former Director of Kuwait’s Pension Fund to be Tried in Switzerland
Two Swiss banks are calling for Fahad Al-Rajaan, a Kuwaiti businessman and the former Director General of the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS), to be extradited and tried in Switzerland, UAE media reports. Al-Rajaan fled to the UK in 2014 after a...
Contracts to Ghosts in Guanajuato: The Ongoing Struggle to Rein in ‘Ghost’ Companies in Mexico
A report published earlier this year uncovered that various government agencies, public educational institutions, and autonomous organizations from the central Mexican state of Guanajuato awarded over $8 million in contracts in the last five years to shell companies...