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☆ Madagascan President's Ex-Aide Offered Influence for Bribes, London Jury Told
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

By Sam TobinLONDON (Reuters) - Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina's ex-chief of staff offered to use her influence to obtain bribes from precious stone miner Gemfields in exchange for help with lucrative mining rights, prosecutors told a London court on Tuesday. Romy Andrianarisoa, 47, is accused of seeking substantial payments from Gemfields between 2021 and 2023 to help the company expand its business into Madagascar. Prosecutor Alex Leach told jurors at Southwark Crown Court that Andrianarisoa was, at the time of the alleged offending, a "trusted adviser" to Rajoelina. At the meeting, Andrianarisoa "made it clear she had direct influence on the president", Leach added. He said Gemfields later approached Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) after it became clear Andrianarisoa and her associate Philippe Tabuteau were seeking a bribe.

Persons: Sam Tobin LONDON, Andry Rajoelina's, Romy Andrianarisoa, Andrianarisoa, Alex Leach, Leach, Sean Gilbertson, Gemfields, Britain's, Philippe Tabuteau, Tabuteau, Sam Tobin, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Southwark Crown, Crime Agency, NCA, Gemfields Locations: London, Gemfields, Madagascar, Southwark, Tabuteau

☆ Russian gold miner Uzhuralzoloto announces IPO despite UK sanctions on owner
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Anastasia Lyrchikova | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Alfa Bank analysts valued UGC's share capital at 140.5-170.8 billion roubles ($1.53-1.86 billion). Britain imposed sanctions on 29 individuals and entities in Russia's gold and oil sectors on Wednesday, including Strukov and two of Russia's largest gold producers, Nord Gold and Highland Gold Mining, but not UGC itself. Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) also issued an alert to financial institutions, warning them about Russian attempts to use gold to evade sanctions. Strukov said the IPO would allow UGC to reach more investors, diversify the shareholder structure and lower its debt burden. A string of small offerings has breathed some life into Russia's equity capital markets in recent months.

Persons: Uzhuralzoloto, Konstantin Strukov, Strukov, Anastasia Lyrchikova, Felix Light, Alexander Marrow, Mark Potter Organizations: UGC, Alfa Bank, Reuters, Nord, Highland Gold Mining, Crime Agency, Astra, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine MOSCOW, Moscow, Britain, Ukraine, Nord Gold

☆ Russian Billionaire Fridman Loses Challenge Over Mansion Upkeep
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON (Reuters) - Sanctioned Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman cannot spend thousands of pounds a month on the upkeep of his London mansion, containing a 44 million-pound ($53.2 million) art collection, London's High Court ruled on Thursday. Fridman took Britain's sanctions office, OFSI, to court after it refused to allow him to spend 30,000 pounds a month to prevent Athlone House, which he bought for 65 million pounds, from falling into disrepair. The 59-year-old also wanted to spend 1,850 pounds a month on communications systems, which Fridman said regulate Athlone House's telephones, IT, lighting, heating and security. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) said it had already licensed Fridman to meet arrears and make one-off payments totalling around 1.4 million pounds, plus future payments of 760,000 pounds a year. Athlone House, in north London, was raided by Britain's National Crime Agency in December, which is the subject of a separate legal challenge by Fridman.

Persons: Mikhail Fridman, Fridman, Judge Pushpinder Saini, Fridman's, OFSI, Saini, Sam Tobin, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: Athlone, Athlone House, Britain's National Crime Agency, Forbes Locations: Russian, Athlone, Britain, Israel, Russia, London, Ukraine

☆ Russian billionaire Fridman loses challenge over mansion upkeep
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Sanctioned Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman cannot spend thousands of pounds a month on the upkeep of his London mansion, containing a 44 million-pound ($53.2 million) art collection, London's High Court ruled on Thursday. The 59-year-old also wanted to spend 1,850 pounds a month on communications systems, which Fridman said regulate Athlone House's telephones, IT, lighting, heating and security. Athlone House, in north London, was raided by Britain's National Crime Agency in December, which is the subject of a separate legal challenge by Fridman. The Russian billionaire, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $12.8 billion, has been subject to British sanctions since March 2022, a month after Russia invaded Ukraine. His designation under Britain's sanctions regime was updated in September to remove a reference to him being a "pro-Kremlin oligarch".

Persons: Mikhail Fridman, Sergei Karpukhin, Fridman, Judge Pushpinder Saini, Fridman's, OFSI, Saini, Sam Tobin, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: Alfa Group, Russian, Industrialists, Entrepreneurs, REUTERS, Athlone, Athlone House, Britain's National Crime Agency, Forbes, Thomson Locations: Russian Union, Moscow, Russia, Russian, Athlone, Britain, Israel, London, Ukraine

☆ British businessman jailed for fake bomb plot in London's legal district
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Sam Tobin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Metropolitan Police/Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - A British businessman at the centre of a money-laundering investigation was jailed on Friday for more than eight years for targeting two lawyers with fake bombs in the heart of London's legal district. Prosecutors said Nuttall orchestrated the plot with his driver Michael Sode, 59, and former soldier Michael Broddle, 47, who planted devices which were designed to look like genuine explosives. Broddle had previously conducted a six-month surveillance operation against Sutcliffe, Jeavons and their families, she said. Nuttall and Sode were both convicted of two counts of conspiracy to plant the devices and conspiracy to transfer criminal property, relating to payments made to Broddle. Broddle had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to plant the devices and two counts of possession of an explosive substance.

Persons: Jonathan Nuttall, Prosecutors, Nuttall, Michael Sode, Michael Broddle, Andrew Sutcliffe, Anne Jeavons, Broddle, Sutcliffe, Jeavons, –, Catherine Farrelly, Sode, Bailey, Simon Mayo, Farrelly, Sam Tobin, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Metropolitan Police, Handout, REUTERS Acquire, Britain's, Crime Agency, NCA, Court, London's, Thomson Locations: Gray's, British, London, Bailey

The two pilots, however, would allow extensive information sharing between banks on large-scale financial crime, expand public-private data sharing initiatives and set up a similar platform to Britain's national fraud database for serious economic crime. The pilots could be formally launched by October when Britain's economic crime and corporate transparency bill, currently on its way through parliament, is expected to become law. This legislation aims to protect regulated firms from confidentiality rules if they share information to tackle economic crime, giving them the leeway to ramp up data sharing. One financial crime investigations lawyer, who declined to be named because of client sensitivities, said that information-sharing needed appropriate safeguards. The NCA told Reuters it was discussing the data sharing pilot with a number of banks to try and identify "actionable intelligence".

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Banks, Simon Fell, Iain Withers, Kirstin Ridley, Sinead Cruise, Jane Merriman Organizations: U.S, REUTERS, Lloyds, NatWest, Reuters, HSBC, Barclays, Crime Agency, UK Finance, Home Office, NCA, Thomson Locations: Russia, Britain, Ukraine

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - International law enforcement agencies have seized a sprawling dark web marketplace popular with cybercriminals, Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Wednesday, in a multinational crackdown dubbed 'Operation Cookie Monster'. A banner plastered across Genesis Market's site late on Tuesday said domains belonging to the organisation had been seized by the FBI. Logos of other European, Canadian, and Australian police organizations were also emblazoned across the site, along with that of cybersecurity firm Qintel. The NCA estimated that the service hosted about 80 million credentials and digital fingerprints stolen from more than two million people. The NCA said Genesis had operated by selling credentials from as little as $0.7 to hundreds of dollars depending on the stolen data available.

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - International law enforcement agencies have seized a dark web marketplace popular with cybercriminals, according to a notice posted to the site on Tuesday. A banner plastered across Genesis Market's site said domains belonging to the organization had been seized by the FBI. Britain's National Crime Agency - whose logo was also on the site - confirmed it was "participating in an international law enforcement operation targeting cyber criminals" but said it would not offer any further comment ahead of an announcement planned for Tuesday. Reuters could not immediately locate contact details for the Genesis Market's administrators. Reporting by James Pearson and Michael Holden; writing by Raphael Satter; editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Summary Trickbot targeted hospitals during COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. saysSanctions could hit hackers' ability to move money-analystWASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The United States and Britain have imposed sanctions against seven leading members of a notorious Russian hacking gang known as Trickbot, officials announced on Friday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the United States and Britain were "committed to using all available authorities to defend against cyber threats." Both Trickbot and Conti were accused by U.S. and British authorities of having ties to the Russian intelligence services. Sanctions tend to be largely symbolic given that Russia is already heavily sanctioned and cybercriminals based there tend to steer clear of the United States or Britain. He said that U.S. officials had been lobbying to get other countries to impose sanctions on cybercriminals.

☆ UK crime agency arrests 'wealthy Russian' over money laundering
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Britain's National Crime Agency said on Saturday it had arrested a "wealthy Russian businessman" on suspicion of money laundering and other offences as part of a crackdown on corrupt oligarchs. The unidentified 58-year-old was among three men arrested by officers from the Combatting Kleptocracy Cell (CKC) on Thursday at a "multi-million pound residence" in London, the NCA said. He was detained on suspicion of money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Home Office (interior ministry) and conspiracy to commit perjury, the NCA said. These included a number of asset freezing orders on accounts held by people linked to sanctioned Russians. Britain has so far sanctioned more than 1,200 individuals and over 120 entities following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

☆ British crime agency recovers $65 mln of suspect money in Barclays accounts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Sam Tobin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) on Friday obtained a civil recovery order relating to nearly 54 million pounds ($65 million) of suspected criminal property held in accounts with Barclays (BARC.L). The NCA's lawyers told London's High Court that the money is likely "the proceeds of unlawful conduct", a view shared by Barclays which first approached the agency about the money. Judge Robin Knowles said he was prepared to make the civil recovery order "without hesitation". The NCA said that the case was "a great example of how the public and private sector can work together to recover proceeds of crime". "The proactive identification of these funds by Barclays was the reason we could take this action," said Adrian Searle, director of the National Economic Crime Centre within the NCA.

☆ Malawi vice president arrested over corruption, says graft watchdog
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BLANTYRE, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested the country's Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima over graft allegations, it said on Friday. Chilima would be taken to court where he was expected to be charged with three counts of corrupt practices by a public officer, among other charges, the corruption watchdog said in a statement. The statement alleged Chilima was rewarded for assisting Xaviar Limited and Malachitte FZE, two companies connected to British businessman Zuneth Sattar to be awarded contracts by the Malawi Government. In August, the Financial Times reported that Sattar was under investigation by Britain's National Crime Agency over alleged abuse of Malawi's public procurement system. Earlier this year, Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera dissolved his entire cabinet on charges of corruption against three serving ministers.

☆ British businessman charged over helping Russian oligarch evade U.S. sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Oct 11 (Reuters) - British businessman Graham Bonham-Carter was arrested on U.S. charges of conspiring to violate sanctions placed on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Bonham-Carter was arrested in the United Kingdom, and federal prosecutors in Manhattan said they will seek his extradition. Prosecutors said Bonham-Carter made payments for U.S. properties owned by Deripaska and tried to move the aluminum magnate's artwork in the United States overseas. A lawyer for Bonham-Carter, who is also charged with wire fraud, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors said Bonham-Carter has worked for entities controlled by Deripaska since around 2003, and managed his residential properties in the United Kingdom and Europe.

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