CRYPTO: Bitzlato ‘dirty money safe haven’ channelled €700M in illicit assets, says FinCEN; France Spain, Portugal and Cyprus dismantle its operations

Regulatory Watch News

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  Former Comptroller General of Ecuador Convicted for $10M International Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme

  US Department of Justice

  April 24, 2024

  A federal jury in Miami convicted the former Comptroller General of Ecuador yesterday for his role in a multimillion-dollar international bribery and money laundering scheme. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2010 to 2015, Carlos Ramon Polit Faggioni, 73, solicited and received over $10 million in bribe payments from Odebrecht S.A., the Brazil-based construction conglomerate. Polit, in his position as Comptroller General of Ecuador, was responsible for protecting public funds against fraud and rooting out corruption. Instead, Polit took bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for removing fines and not imposing fines on Odebrecht’s projects in Ecuador. Additionally, in or around 2015, Polit received a bribe from an Ecuadorian businessman in exchange for assisting the businessman with obtaining certain contracts with the state-owned insurance company of Ecuador.

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  Pakistani smuggling network busted in Romania

  Europol

  April 24, 2024

  A cross-border investigation led by the Romanian Police (Poliția Română), supported by Europol and involving the Austrian Police (Landeskriminalamt Salzburg) and the Italian Carabinieri Corps (Arma dei Carabinieri), has resulted in the dismantling of an organised crime group involved in migrant smuggling. The group arranged the illegal arrival in Romania of migrants via fraudulently obtained work visas, before facilitating their further illegal movements towards other EU countries.

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  PSR seeks views on its proposed approach to supervision

  Payment Systems Regulator

  April 24, 2024

  The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has published a call for views on its proposed approach to supervision, having established a Supervision and Compliance Monitoring division last year. The division was created to drive compliance with the PSR’s requirements, something that has become increasingly important as the regulator uses its powers to boost competition, increase choice and tackle payment fraud. The division will improve outcomes for everybody that uses payment systems by deterring and challenging poor practise within firms.