Category: Financial Crime

Regulatory Watch News

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  Investigation ‘Gummy Bear’: Searches carried out in Brazil, Belgium and Germany in probe into customs fraud involving gelatine imports

  European Public Prosecutor's Office

  August 5, 2026

  (Luxembourg, 5 August 2026) – In an investigation into a suspected customs evasion scheme involving gelatine imports between affiliated companies, led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Frankfurt (Germany), coordinated searches were carried out in Brazil, Belgium and Germany. The investigation, code-named ‘Gummy Bear’, concerns the alleged undervaluation of raw materials imported from Brazil by affiliated companies for the production of gelatine products in Germany, which may have resulted in the underpayment of customs duties.

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  EBA publishes draft reporting framework for the 2027 eligibility data collection

  AMLA

  August 5, 2026

  As part of release 4.4 of its reporting framework, the European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a public working draft of the data model and taxonomy that will support the collection of data on eligibility for direct supervision by AMLA.

  The data will be gathered in early 2027 from all obliged entities identified as provisionally eligible in 2026, to confirm whether they still meet the criteria on 31 December 2026, the reference date for the selection exercise.

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  Melbourne drug traffickers using encrypted criminal platform sentenced as part of Operation Kraken

  Australia Federal Police

  August 5, 2026

  Two Melbourne men have been sentenced over their involvement in a drug trafficking ring linked to Italian organised crime. The AFP launched Operation Kraken-Kashyyyk in July, 2024, targeting members of Italian organised crime who were using Ghost, an encrypted communications platform designed specifically for criminal use. The platform has since been dismantled by international law enforcement. Investigators identified the men, now both aged 27 and from Moonee Ponds and Keilor East, as suspected of using the encrypted application to traffic commercial quantities of controlled drugs.