Author: Elizabeth Hearst

Regulatory Watch News

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  Treasury Begins Sanctions Modernization Effort by Removing Outdated Entries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the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is removing sanctions on 76 outdated targets, which are now being taken off its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List.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 For today’s action, OFAC identified 76 outdated SDN List entries for removal, including deceased individuals, scrapped or decommissioned vessels, persons designated as part of illicit financial networks that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. 

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  Asked and Answered: Features and Dynamics of Transnational Organized Crime

  UNODC

  May 28, 2026

  Gangs trafficking drugs and firearms. Online financial sextortion by cybercriminals. Criminal governance by mafias. Fraudsters stealing people’s life savings in industrial scam farms. You have doubtless heard about one of these or other notorious organized crime operations, or perhaps directly felt how their activities affect you, your community or your country. Organized crime groups (OCGs) operate in all environments, from local communities to entire sub-national regions, the high seas and warzones. And across all these geographical areas, they cause wide-ranging harm. But just how far-reaching is the impact of organized crime? Which markets do they work in? How do these groups get so powerful, and what sort of tools do they use? More than 25 years after the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), a new research brief from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) answers these questions on the features and dynamics of transnational organized crime. Find out more below.