On July 6, 2022, after two days of intense debate, the Belgian Parliament voted 79 to 41 to ratify the prisoner transfer treaty with Iran.[1]

On July 19, President Biden signed a new executive order meant to deter hostage taking and wrongful detentions and help bring Americans wrongfully detained abroad back home.  The executive order builds on the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-taking Accountability Act, which spelled out who is considered wrongfully detained, and expanded tools to help free American hostages.

On July 15, 2022, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz arrived in Utah in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.  He is facing an indictment in Salt Lake City, charging him with laundering more than $133 million in illegal proceeds through bank accounts he controlled in Turkey and Luxembourg.  The April 2021 superseding indictment alleges that the proceeds concern a scheme organized in Plymouth, Utah, by Jacob Kingston, Isaiah Kingston, and Levon Termedndzhyan to defraud the U.S. Treasury by filing false claims for more than $1 billion in tax credits allegedly for the production and sale of biodiesel by their company, Washakie Renewable Energy LLC.[1]

On July 14, 2022, an article in an Angolan paper revealed that the Cape Verdean Central Bank ordered the “administrative liquidation” of the BIC Cabo Verde bank (BIC-CV) for which Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos was a majority owner.  The Central Bank appointed a liquidation commission that immediately started managing the bank.[1]

On July 15, 2022, Mexican marines captured drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who is on the FBI’s Top 10 most wanted fugitives list and subject to a $20 million bounty.  

On July 12, 2022, in a Ministerial-level virtual meeting with over 17 countries and several international organizations, the United States government has reaffirmed and provided additional commitments with respect to supporting Haiti with respect to police and security assistance, including investigating the assassination of President Moïse and combating gang activity.  The U.S. also made commitments with respect to migration.

On June 27, 2022, a court in Switzerland ordered Credit Suisse to pay 21 million francs in connection to money laundering offences between 2007 and 2008.  During that period, a bank employee aided Bulgarian drug smugglers in laundering millions of dollars’ worth of cash through a process known as “smurfing.”  The ruling is the latest in a line of legal woes faced by the bank in recent years.

On July 5, 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order filing and simultaneously settling charges against BNP Paribas (BNPP), an international financial services corporation and swap dealer, for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and Commission regulations concerning swap reporting and daily mark disclosures.[1]

On July 12, 2022, Herdade Lokua, 34, and Jospin Mjangi, 32, of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to conspiracy and Lacey Act charges.  On November 3, 2021, indictments were issued on eleven counts concerning trafficking wildlife from the DRC to Seattle.  The court scheduled the sentencing hearing for November 1.[1]

On June 22, 2022, Bram van der Kolk and Mathias Ortmann, who have fought extradition to the U.S. for more than a decade, pleaded guilty in New Zealand.  Meanwhile, the U.S. extradition case for Kim Dotcom continues.[1]