FinancialCrime.org

Independent research into payment fraud, fiduciary abuse, and financial misconduct. Evidence first, conclusions second.

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

FINMA investigated MBaer for two years. FinCEN needed one Federal Register notice to kill it.

Section 311 doesn't destroy banks through legal prohibition. It destroys them through market signal. How the most powerful tool in U.S. AML enforcement actually works:

https://t.co/SM72HErPUl

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

The US seized Garantex in March 2025. Two weeks later it was back under a new name — same team, same interface, successor infrastructure pre-built months before the takedown. Then came four more successors.

The crypto hydra problem is real.

https://t.co/4bDTwshVru

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

@swiftcommunity Building the rails of the future' is a bold tagline from an organization still working out the kinks on rails built in 1977.

[RUSI @RUSI_org]

Chinese Money Laundering Organisations (CMLOs) have rapidly emerged as a pre-eminent global threat, dominating the market for laundering the proceeds of transnational organised crime in the West.

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

The US pardoned convicted money launderers, paused FCPA enforcement, closed half its investigations, and gutted the CFPB. Each decision has a rationale.

Together, they represent the most significant rollback of financial crime enforcement in at least two decades.

https://t.co/PrskiWROcf

[Senator Raff Ciccone @SenRaffCiccone]

🔎 A review into the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2026 has commenced an important step in strengthening Australia's response to evolving financial crime. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security will conduct the inquiry.

The proposed reforms would give @AUSTRAC greater powers to restrict high-risk financial mechanisms, targeting money laundering through digital currency exchanges and crypto ATMs, and updating the definition of terrorism financing to reflect modern risks.

As organised crime continues to evolve, this inquiry will help ensure Australia's safeguards remain effective – now and into the future.

Public submissions are open until 8 May 2026. Have your say here:
👉https://t.co/xsu5Swrq8q

#auspol #pjcis #austrac #moneylaundering #counterterrorism @Tony_Burke

[RUSI @RUSI_org]

Is the current approach to fighting financial crime making a substantive difference?

In the latest episode of Suspicious Transaction Report host @keatingetom is joined by journalist Oliver Bullough to discuss his latest book, ‘Everybody Loves Our Dollars: How Money Laundering Won’.

Listen to the episode: https://t.co/gHbK0N9NAu

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

The limitation: it only works for wire transfers inside the US banking system. Crypto, international wires, cash are all outside its reach.

As fraud moves to crypto, this coverage gap matters. But within scope, this is enforcement done right.

https://t.co/VmyQYg8bpv

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

FinCEN's Rapid Response Program has interdicted nearly $2 billion in fraudulent wire transfers — money frozen before it reached the fraudsters.

Most enforcement measures penalties imposed. This measures money saved. That's the right metric.

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

Government enforcement of financial crime has weakened. But criminal prosecution was always just one accountability mechanism.

Independent investigations that organise scattered evidence into actionable findings matter more now than ever.

https://t.co/ORZ1zZWneV

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

4/4 Same structural failure I've written about across Ronin → Bybit → Kelp: systems with nominal trust distribution that collapse to a single point of failure in practice.

Full analysis, contagion mapping, and what it means for DeFi regulation: https://t.co/LkL9COfFfM

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

$293M drained from Kelp DAO's bridge yesterday. Largest DeFi hack of 2026.

The attack: forge one cross-chain message, drain 18% of rsETH supply, deposit as collateral on Aave, borrow $236M in real ETH against unbacked tokens.

Result: $5.4B withdrawal panic at Aave. AAVE token down 20%.
🧵👇

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

3/4 LayerZero has preliminarily attributed the attack to Lazarus Group.

If confirmed: $575M from DeFi in 18 days (Drift + Kelp). $1.5B from Bybit in February '25. Same unit. Different methodology each time.

The adversary is evolving faster than the industry's defences.

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

‘Dirty Money’: New book explores how financial crime is corroding Canada - Police overwhelmed with their own cases tend to set aside thousands of new disclosures about potential criminals produced by FINTRAC... https://t.co/pUyUolQGej

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

Hong Kong Leads Asia's Crypto Regulatory Evolution in 2023 - Aside from Hong Kong, another country that has contributed significantly to the growth of the Asian crypto economy is Singapore. https://t.co/cJpbob6Pkm

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

Binance Reports 30% User Growth - Binance’s ongoing legal and regulatory troubles apparently haven’t hurt its growth. The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange saw its user base grow by 30% during 2023 with the addition of 40M customers https://t.co/upqPVNL8OS

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

Only 0.53% of investors declared their crypto for tax in 2022 - Crypto investors around the world don’t fear the taxman as the latest research from Divly estimates that the global crypto tax payment rate is just 0.53%. https://t.co/oNqp3a0w2E

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

ECB board member McCaul calls for increased crypto regulation - Elizabeth McCaul, a member of the supervisory board of the European Central Bank (ECB), has advocated for more regulation of cryptocurrency businesses. https://t.co/jLeHscAToF

[FinancialCrime.org @Financial_Crime]

EU drafts crypto transfer rules to fight money laundering - FinTech Futures - The European Union intends to introduce legislation to trace and identify cryptoasset transfers, as part of a wider anti-money laundering push. https://t.co/oAIkjLsmv4