A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.

A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.

A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.

A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.

A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.

A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.

A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.

A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.

A joint action day spearheaded by Spain’s Guardia Civil and Europol dismantled an international crypto-investment fraud network that siphoned €460 million from more than 5 000 victims across 30 countries. Five suspects were arrested, and a Hong Kong–based laundering architecture was seized, underscoring the regulatory blind spots that still plague virtual-asset markets.

On 20 June 2025, a Baku court sentenced seven journalists—six from corruption-focused Abzas Media and one from RFE/RL—to 7½-9 years on “currency-smuggling” and money-laundering charges. Rights groups say the verdict weaponises AML statutes to silence probes into President Ilham Aliyev’s financial networks just as Brussels deepens energy talks with Baku.

A veteran USAID contracting officer and three corporate chiefs have confessed to a decade-long bribery and securities-fraud scheme worth more than $550 million. The guilty pleas land days after Elon Musk’s blistering claim that the aid agency is “a criminal organization” run by radical-left operatives. Are the dots finally connecting?

Malta’s pursuit of becoming a crypto hub under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) is under intense scrutiny. While MiCA promises standardized oversight, Malta’s history of lax enforcement and ties to high-profile financial crimes raise alarming questions about its commitment to genuine compliance. The case of StablR, a Malta-licensed stablecoin issuer, epitomizes these concerns, exposing systemic flaws in the nation’s regulatory framework.

Jonas Koeller and Stephan Christoph Schaefer, founders of the S&K Group, are at the center of one of Germany’s largest real estate fraud cases. Between 2008 and 2013, they collected over €240 million from around 11,000 investors. Their business model: purchasing properties from foreclosures, artificially inflating their value, and reselling them multiple times through a network of funds.