NEWS: UK launches £550m crackdown on high-street money laundering

Regulatory Watch News

• 

  Treasury Convenes Global Financial Institutions to Advance Operation Economic Outcast

  FinCEN

  September 16, 2026

    WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) led a FinCEN Exchange with global financial institutions to advance Operation Economic Outcast. The event armed financial institutions with the information they need to shut down revenue streams and procurement networks tied to the Iranian regime. “Treasury continues to sever every economic lifeline Tehran has left,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Financial institutions are in lockstep with the U.S. government in support of Operation Economic Outcast, and we will continue to work closely with the private sector in the fight against the murderous Iranian regime.”

• 

  Investigation Money Cat: EPPO conducts searches and arrests in probe into suspected €60 million VAT fraud scheme

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  September 16, 2026

  (Luxembourg, 16 September 2026) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cologne (Germany) conducted searches and arrests today in an investigation into suspected large-scale VAT fraud involving a criminal organisation trading goods across several EU Member States. Two suspects were arrested and 20 private residences and business premises searched in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) and Belgium. During the searches, large amounts of cash, luxury watches, handbags and vehicles worth approximately €300 000 were seized, as well as a loaded firearm. The frozen bank accounts are still being evaluated.

• 

  Five sentenced over ‘debt bondage’ people smuggling conspiracy

  National Crime Agency

  September 16, 2026

  Five members of an organised crime group responsible for facilitating illegal entry to the UK of Vietnamese migrants and laundered more than £1.6 million in cash from that criminality have been jailed for a total of almost 40 years. The NCA investigation, conducted jointly with the French Central Office Against Migrant Smuggling Roissy (OLTIM) and Belgian Federal Judicial Police West Flanders (FGP), commenced following a seizure by French Customs officers at Charles de Gaulle Airport in July 2025. A package addressed to Quang Nguyen, allegedly containing chocolates and clothes, was actually found to contain 22 Vietnamese passports.