On August 10, 2021, BitMEX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, agreed to pay $100 million for not abiding by U.S. laws while permitting U.S. residents to use the platform and not implementing an anti-money laundering program.[1]

                Xizhi Li, a Chinese national and naturalized United States citizen, pleaded guilty yesterday to his involvement in a conspiracy to launder at least $30 million in drug proceeds on behalf of foreign drug-trafficking organizations.[1]  Li played a leadership role within a years-long conspiracy to use a foreign casino, foreign and domestic front companies, foreign and domestic bank accounts, false passports, and other false identification documents to launder money on behalf of transnational drug-trafficking organizations.[2]

On August 5, 2021, the United States Department of Justice announced it has returned an additional $452 million in embezzled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds it has forfeited to the people of Malaysia.  The U.S. has now returned over $1.2 billion in forfeited 1MDB funds.[1]

Court documents show the funds from 1MDB, formerly Malaysia’s investment development fund, were laundered through major financial institutions worldwide, including in the U.S., Switzerland, Singapore, and Luxembourg.

On July 26, 2021, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced its Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularization Scheme of Nigeria (VOARS) London Declaration Facilities. [1]

On August 2, 2021, the Global Financial Integrity published an incisive report showing serious gaps in the application of money laundering laws in the United States with respect to real estate and making a number of recommendations.[1]  The report compares U.S. anti-money laundering laws concerning real estate to international and comparative law standards.  Normally, a report by a civil society organization would not be so influential.  However, the quality of the research, analysis, the credentials of the authors, and the insights of the report are quite formidable.

On August 3, 2021, Iraq announced that the U.S. would return more than 17,000 looted artifacts, some of which were stolen during the 2003 invasion.

On July 28, 2021, U.S. District Judge in the Southern District of New York Gregory Wood entered a revised order authorizing the IRS to serve Internal Revenue Service “John Doe” summonses to several U.S. couriers and financial institutions to produce information about U.S. taxpayers who may have use the Panamanian law firm to evade federal income taxes.[1]

Alaa Mousa, a former Syrian military doctor now living in Germany, was indicted on July 28, 2021, on charges of crimes against humanity by the German federal prosecutor.[1]  Dr. Mousa has been accused of torturing opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in military facilities in Syria.  One of the several allegations against him is that he doused the testicles of a teenage boy with alcohol before lighting them on fire in the emergency room at a military hospital in Syria.  He is also alleged to have kicked and punched other prisoners, as well as carried out procedures without sufficient anesthetic.[2]  After fleeing Syria in 2015, Dr. Mousa began working at a hospital in central Germany.  He was recognized by other Syrians who alerted the German authorities, leading to his arrest in June 2020.[3]

The Indian government has filed over 107 prosecution complaints and raised about $1.1 billion from assessment orders in its efforts to uncover undisclosed foreign assets.  In a July 26 press release, the Ministry of Finance said that the government filed the complaints and issued assessment orders in 166 cases under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (the Black Money Act).  This stemmed from an HSBC data leak that contained names of Indians suspected to have parked untaxed wealth in the foreign bank.[1]  The Black Money Act aimed to abolish undisclosed foreign income and assets.[2]  The government is just starting to reap the benefits as the government raised a demand of 8,216 crore, a crore is the equivalent of ten million rupees, and the government filed 107 prosecution complaints in relation to black money.[3]  While the act has yielded positive news, the Indian government is still facing a major headwind, Swiss banks.  Swiss National Bank (SNB) data shows that the Swiss bank deposits by Indians increased by 286% in 2020 compared to 2019.[4]  To make matters worse for the Indian government, a lot of the data from SNB omitted vital information for the Indian government.  This article will further discuss the HSBC data leak, India’s Black Money Act and explore private Indian citizens’ activity within Swiss Banks.

On Wednesday, July 21, 2021, a rhino kingpin and a game hunter were arrested while illegally transporting rhino horns valued over R2.6-million. South African law enforcement charged the duo with illegally possessing and selling horns and granted them bail later that week.[1]