News – Page 63

Bosnian Authorities Bust Group Selling Fake Diplomas

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA)18 locations across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the Klaster (Cluster) operation. SIPA said it seized “75 student files, registry books and other business documentation, 165,000 convertible marks (US$89,300) in cash, computers and other items that could be used as evidence” Bosnian daily newspaper Dnevni Avazthat the investigation uncovered more than 50 fake diplomas.

Source: Written by Zdravko Ljubas, 2023-02-24; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/17360-bosnian-authorities-bust-group-selling-fake-diplomas

Mexico’s Top Cop Convicted of Accepting Millions from Sinaloa Cartel

Genaro García Luna was Mexico’s former secretary of public security. He was accused of accepting millions in bribes from the very cartels he was tasked with dismantling. A U.S. federal court found him guilty on all five counts, including conspiracy to smuggle tonnes of cocaine into the United States. The bribes he accepted garnered him millions of dollars and essentially allowed groups such as the renowned Sinaloa Cartel to operate with impunity, authorities said. He brought progressive reforms to Mexico’s law enforcement agencies, which had long been plagued by corruption.

Source: Written by Henry Pope, 2023-02-24; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/17357-mexico-s-top-cop-convicted-of-accepting-millions-from-sinaloa-cartel

Papua New Guinea PM Orders Probe After OCCRP Report

Former PNG Ports head Fego Kiniafa and his predecessor appeared to have benefited from payments from a Singapore bank account belonging to Don Matheson. The payments came shortly after an global ports operator, Manila-based International Container Terminal Services (ICSTI), paid roughly US$4.35 million toMatheson’s newly established Singapore company. In 2017, ICTSI won lucrative contracts to operate PNG’s two biggest ports. The revelations come from the , millions of files from service providers of offshore companies leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)

Source: Written by OCCRP, 2023-03-08; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/17389-papua-new-guinea-pm-orders-probe-after-occrp-report

Republican Congressman Tom Emmer Introduces Bill to Ban Fed’s CBDC

Emmer is known for its efforts to boost crypto adoption and promote the growth of the industry. He has been in favor of and has also about the way the government handled the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried. The bill prohibits the Fed from issuing a CBDC directly to anyone, prevents it from using aCBDC to implement monetary policy and control the economy, and sets the frame for more transparency on such projects. He is also known for calling for regulation that encourages innovation and growth.

Source: Felix Mollen, 2023-02-24; https://cryptopotato.com/republican-congressman-tom-emmer-introduces-bill-to-ban-feds-cbdc/

Montenegro Extradites Fugitive Involved in COVID-19 Relief Fund Scam in the US

Tamara Dadyan, along with her six co-conspirators, took advantage of the pandemic to steal millions of dollars. The group used dozens of fake, stolen, or synthetic identities to submit fraudulent applications for roughly 150 PPP and EIDL loans. The seven people who were part of this fraud ring in Los Angeles were sentenced for obtaining funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) The agency’s inspector general said that “conspiring to rob victims of their identities will be met with justice”

Source: Written by Vinicius Madureira, 2023-03-08; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/17387-montenegro-extradites-fugitive-involved-in-covid-19-relief-fund-scam-in-the-us

Stacks (STX) Soars Another 12%, Bitcoin Flat at $23K: Weekend Watch

Bitcoin dropped by roughly $1,000 and marked a multi-week low beneath $23,000. The altcoins are also quiet today, given the trading volumes, aside from the likes of Stacks and Lido Dao, both of which are up by impressive percentages. Bitcoin tried its hand at taking down $25,000 three times in the past 10 days or so, with the most notable surge coming in the middle of last week as it shot up by $3,500 on Thursday.

Source: Jordan Lyanchev, 2023-02-27; https://cryptopotato.com/stacks-stx-soars-another-12-bitcoin-flat-at-23k-weekend-watch/

UK Court Sentences Former Bankers for Defrauding Libyan Wealth Fund

Frederick Marino was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison. Aurelien Bessot was handed a sentence of 15 months suspended for two years. Swiss banker Yoshiki Ohmura received a prison sentence of three years and 6 months. Both absconded from the country and were sentenced in absentia. The fraud started in 2009 when Marino set up an investment company, FM Capital Partners, registered in London, to manage £822 million, the equivalent of around $986 million.

Source: Written by Josef Skrdlik, 2023-02-24; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/17359-uk-court-sentences-former-bankers-for-defrauding-libyan-wealth-fund

GI-TOC: Organized Crime in Ukraine and Russia Split Since the Invasion

Before the war, the two countries “controlled a lucrative transnational smuggling highway,’ GI-TOC said. Corrupt officials and crime bosses siphoned off millions from Ukraine’s status as a transit country for Russian gas into the West. Now, however, the year-long invasion has made collaboration between Russian and Ukrainian organized crime groups all but impossible and longstanding business ties are now no longer viable, GI- TOC said, at least for the present. In the span of a few months, “most Russian criminal actors had been apprehended or ejected from the country,” the report said.

Source: Written by Henry Pope, 2023-02-25; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/17364-gi-toc-organized-crime-in-ukraine-and-russia-split-since-the-invasion

Mt. Gox Creditors Have Until January 2023 to Select a Repayment Method

Mt. Gox creditors could be one step closer to reclaiming their funds after nearly a decade of waiting. This is as the Rehabilitation Trustee has released a deadline for them to select their preferred repayment method. “Bitstamp is pleased to announce that we are supporting the rehabilitation process for Mt. Gox creditors. Rehabilitation creditors who choose Bitstamp as their cryptocurrency exchange will receive the rehabilitation assets via their Bitstamp account.”
Anthonia is a fintech writer who has been involved in the crypto space since 2017 covering developments across regulations, adoption, and several other aspects of the Industry. When not neck-deep in the crypto news cycle, Anthonia spends her free time globetrotting and playing video games.

Source: Anthonia Isichei 2022-10-11 https://cryptopotato.com/mt-gox-creditors-have-until-january-2023-to-select-a-repayment-method/

OpenSea Acquires Dharma Labs to Explore Fiat for NFTs

On January 18th, OpenSea announced that it had acquired Dharma Labs for an undisclosed amount. The world’s top NFT marketplace was recently valued at $13.3 billion following its latest funding round.

Sources at the 2017-founded firm told Reuters that deal would help it “dramatically improve the experience of buying, minting, and selling NFTs” on its platform.

Axios reported that the two companies were in talks earlier this month, adding that:

“Deal terms are still being hammered out, with current talk of an all-stock deal valued at between $110 million and $130 million.”

Source: Martin Young, 19th of January 2022; https://cryptopotato.com/opensea-acquires-dharma-labs-to-explore-fiat-for-nfts/

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