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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
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.
The U.S. Justice Department has quietly closed about half of its open Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) probes and released new guidelines that tie future anti-bribery prosecutions to clear U.S. national-security or competitiveness harms. The move, coupled with fresh whistle-blower incentives and a sharper focus on individual culpability, redraws the risk landscape for multinationals—especially in cyber-finance hubs.
The U.S. artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe published a so-called ‘deepfake‘ video to Instagram in which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave a sinister speech about the power of Facebook and praised the artists’ Spectre project.
Imagine this for a second: One man, with total control of billions of people’s stolen data, all their secrets, their lives, their futures […] I owe it all to Spectre. Spectre showed me that whoever controls the data, controls the future.”
Mark Zuckderberg praising Spectre in the deepfake video
Spectre is a fictitious secret organization as well as the title of a James Bond franchise. The story sees Bond fighting against the global criminal organization and their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld. In fact, the “Deepfake Zuckerberg” would fit well into this Spectre.
The video was seen as a test of Facebook’s policy that allows manipulated video on its sites, like the one recently posted of Nancy Pelosi, which had been edited to slur her.
The original, real video was published in September 2017. Zuckerberg gave an address about Russian election interference on Facebook. The caption of the Instagram post says it’s created using CannyAI’s video dialogue replacement (VDR) technology.
