On November 17, 2022, the District Court in the Hague delivered a long-awaited judgment in  the criminal case concerning the downing of the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 17 on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian territory. All 298 people onboard were killed when the plane was shot down on July 17, 2014.

Dominican drug lord Cesar Emilio Peralta-Adamez plead guilty to importing shipments of cocaine into the United States on November 4, 2022.[1]  A Federal Grand Jury first indicted Peralta in 2018 for conspiracy to import heroin and cocaine into the U.S. Authorities arrested Peralta in Columbia and extradited him to Puerto Rico where he is currently awaiting prosecution.[2]

On October 20, 2022, Mozambique filed papers to South Africa’s supreme court of appeal to challenge a ruling that called for the extradition of the nation’s former finance minister, Michael (sometimes Manuel) Chang, to the United States.  The charges against Chang stem from the Hidden Debts scandal and his prosecution has been a point of international tension between Mozambique and the United States.  This is Mozambique’s third bid for Chang’s extradition.[1]

On November 7, 2022, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II in Los Angeles sentenced Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, an international fraudster who obtained and laundered tens of millions of dollars through a series of online scams, to 135 months in federal prison.   

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) obtained a classified FBI report detailing Rwanda’s recent history of abusing Interpol Red Notices and feeding U.S. intelligence officials false information to target political dissidents.  Despite being a U.S. ally receiving hundreds of millions in foreign aid, Rwanda has been engaging in these transnational repression schemes on American soil for years, the OCCRP reports.

The United Nations and the United States government as well as other governments are trying to combat the rising gang violence and chaos in Haiti.  On October 21, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a sanctions regime for Haiti, targeting gang leaders and persons who finance them in an effort to mitigate months of violence, lawlessness, and a humanitarian crisis spiraling out of control.[1]  On November 7, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the unsealing of criminal charges against seven leaders of five Haitian gangs, including gang leaders involved in the armed kidnappings of 16 U.S. citizens in the fall of 2021.[2]  On November 4, 2022, the U.S. and Canada sanctioned corrupt Haitian politicians for narcotics trafficking.[3]

On November 7, 2022, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and other law enforcement officials announced the arrests of Elvis Guerrero, also known as Jemyni True, a/ka/ “Jemy,” and Trenton Michael Judkins for trafficking firearms from New York City to the Dominican Republic.[1]

On October 6, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights – (First Section sitting as a Chamber) delivered its judgment in the case Liu v. Poland.[1]

 On October 14, Interpol announced the results of an international crackdown against the Black Axe and other related West-African organized crime groups.  Codenamed Operation Jackal, the law enforcement episode is the first global operation specifically targeting Black Axe, a hacking group implicated in cyber-based financial fraud and other serious crimes, and ultimately yielded 75 arrests.[1]

On October 13, 2022, INTERPOL announced the completion of Operation VII, a joint firearms operation between INTERPOL and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS).  The operation resulted in the seizure of 350 weapons, 3,300 rounds of ammunition, and record drug seizures across the Caribbean.[1]