Fraud, Scams & Cybercrime

Australian Court Sentences Financial Adviser to 12 Years Jail

30/08/2024

Ben Jayaweera dishonestly obtained money from clients for investments and then transferred the funds to his own accounts.

Cryptocurrency

US SEC Settles Charges Against Crypto Firm Abra

30/08/2024

The SEC said Abra operated as an unregistered investment company and sold a retail crypto asset lending product that should have been registered.

Cloud & Infrastructure

ASIC Launches Pilot Digital Portal for AFS Licensing

30/08/2024

The pilot involves a limited number of new AFSL applications before the new digital portal is fully adopted in Q1 2025.

Tokenisation

US SEC Planning Legal Action Against NFT Platform OpenSea

29/08/2024

OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said the SEC is threatening to sue because “they believe NFTs on our platform are securities”.

Data Privacy

EU, China Launch Formal Discussions on Cross-border Data

29/08/2024

The discussions seek to find ways for EU businesses to receive non-personal data from China without breaking the country’s data laws.

Anti-Money Laundering

NYDFS Fines Nordea Bank $35mn for AML Failures

29/08/2024

NYDFS said Nordea’s deficient AML programme exposed it to a “high risk of criminal abuse” which was “imported” to New York’s financial system.

PEPs & Sanctions

US Sanctions Israeli NGO and Civilian Security Officer

29/08/2024

The NGO and security officer were sanctioned for providing support to sanctioned Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Cryptocurrency

Russia Set to Start Testing Crypto in International Payments

29/08/2024

The trials will commence in September. If successful, Russia may allow the Moscow Exchange to set up crypto platforms next year.

Cryptocurrency

CME to Launch Weekly Bitcoin Futures on 30 September

29/08/2024

The new contracts will be cash-settled at 4pm New York time every Friday to help investors mitigate weekend price moves.