INSIGHT: In Europe, ordinary Russians are shunned by wary banks

Regulatory Watch News

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  Former Art Advisor Lisa Schiff Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison For Defrauding Clients

  United States Attorney Office -Southern District of New York

  March 19, 2025

  Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that LISA SCHIFF, a Manhattan-based art advisor focused on contemporary art, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken for perpetrating a multi-year scheme in which she defrauded the clients of her art advisory business of approximately $6.5 million in connection with the purchase and sale of approximately fifty-five artworks.

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  Operation Henhouse: 422 arrests and £7.5m seized in national crackdown on fraud

  National Crime Agency

  March 19, 2025

  422 people have been arrested in a UK-wide campaign against fraud, coordinated by the National Economic Crime Centre and City of London Police. The activity, which was the fourth iteration of the multi-agency Operation Henhouse, ran across February 2025 and resulted in:

  • 422 arrests
  • 155 voluntary interviews
  • 362 cease and desist notices
  • account freezing orders against £3.9m
  • seizures of cash and assets worth £7.5m

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  Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria

  European Council

  March 19, 2025

  The Council decided that a number of restrictive measures should be suspended, that certain exemptions should be introduced and that the reference to an expiration date for the humanitarian exemption, as outlined in Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/1496, should be removed. The Council also decided that six entities should be removed from the list of natural and legal persons, entities or bodies subject to the freezing of funds and economic resources and the prohibition of making funds or economic resources available to them, and that the assets of one of those entities should remain frozen.