NEWS: Spain’s CaixaBank fined €30m over AML failings relating to skyscraper sale

Regulatory Watch News

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  FINTRAC publishes money laundering indicators relating to human trafficking and major international sporting and entertainment events

  FINTRAC

  May 28, 2026

  FINTRAC published today a Special Bulletin on human trafficking risks associated with major international sporting and entertainment events to help businesses subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (the Act) detect transactions related to human trafficking activities and report suspicious transactions to the Centre. Major international sporting and entertainment events can attract hundreds of thousands of visitors from home and abroad.  This can boost economic activity in sectors such as hospitality, entertainment, transportation and tourism, which are vulnerable to human trafficking. These events generate short‑term surges in economic activity and demand for services, labour and transactions, and may intensify conditions under which exploitation activities are present.

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  Treasury Begins Sanctions Modernization Effort by Removing Outdated Entries

  OFAC

  May 28, 2026

  WASHINGTON—Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is removing sanctions on 76 outdated targets, which are now being taken off its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List.  The removals are part of Treasury’s ongoing sanctions modernization initiative, which Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent recently discussed at the No Money For Terror conference in Paris. For today’s action, OFAC identified 76 outdated SDN List entries for removal, including deceased individuals, scrapped or decommissioned vessels, persons designated as part of illicit financial networks that no longer exist, and individuals designated more than 10 years ago who lack sufficient identifiers for continued screening and do not appear to pose an ongoing threat.  OFAC conducted an interagency vetting process for each entry to ensure that removal would not harm U.S. foreign policy or national security interests.

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  France: EPPO probes €18 million fraud involving recovery plan

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  May 28, 2026

  (Luxembourg, 28 May 2026) – At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Paris (France), searches were carried out in Ajaccio, Corsica, and surrounding areas, as part of an investigation into suspected procurement and subsidy fraud in connection with the post-pandemic recovery plan.    At issue are suspicions of fraud in public procurement, financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU) with an amount of approximately €18 million, aimed at supporting local companies to recover economically after the pandemic crisis.