Weekly Round-Up, 4 – 8 April – 22

In the “Weekly Round-Up” we summarise and give extra reading suggestions for some of the past weeks financial crime news headlines, powered by Acuminor’s crime universe ThreatView®.

Ok, it is time to round up another great week at Acuminor. Here in Sweden, the winter reappeared during the week, which gets me into a reading mood, so if you are in the same mood, here are some stories from the week that just flew by. 

The European Commission is now threatening to bring Malta into court for their Golden Passport schemes that have helped several less licit individuals access the European Union. 

Euronews – EU threatens to take Malta to court over ‘golden passport’ scheme

There have also been some interesting stories from the Cyberverse, starting with the shutdown of the largest Russian-Language Dark market/hidden service, Hydra. The operation was led by the German federal police known as the BKA—in a joint operation with the USA’s FBI, DEA, IRS Criminal Investigations, and Homeland Security Investigations. Hydra is estimated to be the most populated and longest-running Dark Market in the history of the DarkWeb. 

Wired – Shutdown of Russia’s Hydra Market Disrupts a Crypto-Crime ATM

The Cryptoanalysis firm Elliptic has published insights into the movement of illicit funds related to Hydra. 

Elliptic – US Sanctions Garantex Exchange and Hydra Dark Web Marketplace Following Seizure of Hydra by German Authorities

The Department of justice also informs that they have shut down a Botnet connected to the GRU-related threat actor Sandworm, disrupting the GRU’s control over thousands of infected devices worldwide. 

The US Department of justice – Justice Department Announces Court-Authorized Disruption of Botnet Controlled by the Russian Federation’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU)

Diving into some of the reports that just came out. Starting with the Occupational Fraud Report 2022 from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). 

ACFE – Occupational fraud 2022: A report to the nations

The Institute for Economics and Peace published its ninth edition of the Global Terrorism Index 2022. 

The Institute for Economics and Peace – Global  Terrorism Index – 22

To finish this week’s reading tips, Global Initiative just released a policy brief where they discuss the possible evolution of illicit currency exchanges with the help of Gold due to the resulting sanctions on Russian possibility to access global finances. 

Global Initiative – Going for Gold

That’s it for this week, have a great weekend!