NEWS: UK’s Serious Fraud Office appoints interim boss, Graham McNulty to replace Nick Ephgrave

Regulatory Watch News

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  Decline in counterfeit euro banknotes in the Netherlands continues

  DNB

  February 27, 2026

  The number of counterfeit euro banknotes in the Netherlands is declining. A total of 17,900 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in the Netherlands in 2025, a 26% drop compared with 24,100 counterfeit notes in 2024. The €50 note was counterfeited most often.

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  First convictions in investigation Moby Dick: 20 defendants sentenced to over 70 years in prison and assets worth approximately €40 million confiscated

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  February 27, 2026

  (Luxembourg, 27 February 2026) – Twenty individuals have been convicted to more than 70 years of imprisonment for organising and participating in a criminal association and money laundering, following an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Milan and Palermo (Italy). These are the first verdicts in investigation “Moby Dick”, involving a criminal syndicate suspected of a VAT fraud scheme of more than half a billion euros.

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  Treasury Sanctions Nicaraguan Officials Enabling the Murillo-Ortega Dictatorship’s Repression

  OFAC

  February 26, 2026

  WASHINGTON—Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned five Nicaraguan government officials who lead the principal financial, communications, and military agencies that enable Nicaragua’s Murillo-Ortega dictatorship to repress its people. The individuals sanctioned include the Director and Deputy Director of Nicaragua’s Financial Analysis Unit, the Minister of Labor, the Deputy Director General of the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services, and the head of the Nicaraguan Army’s Directorate of Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence.