INSIGHT: As David Lewis prepares to step down as FATF chief, our opinion writer asks is the global financial crime watchdog too dominated by finance ministries – and is this what’s holding the agency back?

Regulatory Watch News

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  Update to UK Sanctions List: Russia Regime

  UK Government

  September 2, 2026

  Today, Wednesday 2^nd September, the UK Government has amended the designations of 1 individual and 3 entities sanctioned under the Russia Sanctions Regime. Amended Individual:

  Name:	Unique ID:
  Stanislav Bronislavovich KLEVITSKIY	RUS2711

    Amended Entities:

  Name:	Unique ID:
  GLENBROOK CORPORATION LIMITED	RUS3245
  JOINT STOCK COMPANY TELEPORT BANK	RUS3714
  JSC ALTAY INSTRUMENT-MAKING PLANT ROTOR	RUS3490

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  France: Five convicted in fraud case involving EU-funded waste treatment project

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  September 2, 2026

  (Luxembourg, 2 September 2026) – Today, based on an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Paris (France), the Paris Criminal Court convicted three French companies and their two executives for fraud involving €275 800 in EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The two executives were sentenced to suspended prison sentences of eleven and ten months respectively. They were also fined €20 000 each, with €10 000 suspended, and barred from holding elected public office for eight months. The three companies were sentenced to confiscation penalties totalling €275 800.

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  Global public-private operation disrupts Sality botnet active for two decades

  Europol

  September 2, 2026

  An international operation supported by Europol has disrupted the Sality peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet, a long-running criminal infrastructure used to distribute malicious payloads to thousands of infected computers worldwide. The coordinated action, carried out on 31 August 2026 and led by the US authorities, targeted a botnet believed to have been operating for more than two decades. At its peak, the botnet gave its operator access to up to one million infected machines worldwide. To date, more than 11 million unique IP addresses have been linked to the infrastructure, which could be used to distribute malicious payloads to compromised devices.