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Regulatory Watch News

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  Austria’s measures to counter money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing

  FATF

  May 1, 2026

  30 April 2026 - The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mutual evaluation of Austria, led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), assessed the effectiveness of the country’s anti-money laundering, countering terrorist financing and proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF) measures, and their level of compliance with the FATF Recommendations, at the time of an on-site visit between June and July 2025. The evaluation found that Austria has made clear progress in strengthening its AML/CFT legal and regulatory framework, with notable improvements related to transparency of beneficial ownership, financial sector supervision and terrorist financing investigations. While measures have been taken to increase the effectiveness of Austria’s AML/CFT framework, improvements are still needed, in particular to increase the operational capacity and resources of the financial intelligence unit (FIU), law enforcement and prosecution in order to be able to effectively investigate and prosecute sophisticated money laundering cases and confiscate criminal proceeds at sufficient levels.

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  Senior member of global drug trafficking syndicate jailed in Melbourne

  Australia Federal Police

  May 1, 2026

  A Chinese-British dual national who was a senior member of the Sam Gor criminal syndicate has been jailed for 15 years for his role in a conspiracy to traffic commercial quantities of illicit drugs within Australia from 2012 to 2013. The man, 70, was sentenced by the Melbourne County Court today (30 April, 2026) to 15 years’ imprisonment. He will be eligible for parole after serving nine years and three months.

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  Call centres dismantled and ten arrested in EUR 50 million online fraud case

  Europol

  April 30, 2026

  A criminal network operating a large-scale online fraud scheme has been dismantled through a collaborative investigation involving Austrian and Albanian authorities, with support from Europol and Eurojust. The operation, which spanned over two years, resulted in the arrest of ten individuals, the search of multiple premises, and the seizure of nearly EUR 900 000 in cash.