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☆ France summons brother, assistant of Lebanon central bank boss in fraud probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Central bank chief Riad Salameh, his brother Raja Salameh, and his assistant Marianne Hoayek are being investigated in Lebanon, France and other countries for allegedly taking hundreds of millions in funds from the central bank. France has set a hearing in Paris for his brother Raja on May 31 and for Hoayek on June 13, a source close to the matter told Reuters. A Lebanese judicial source confirmed to Reuters that Lebanon's judiciary had received the summons and was working to deliver them. France last week issued an arrest warrant for Salameh, 72, after he failed to attend his own hearing in Paris. The Salameh brothers and Hoayek have already been charged in two separate cases in Lebanon related to embezzlement and other financial crimes.

☆ Iran says it executes leader of women trafficking network
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 20 (Reuters) - Iran’s judiciary said on Saturday that it had executed the head of a network that trafficked Iranian women to neighbouring countries for prostitution. It said Shahrooz Sakhnoori, a man known as "Alex,” was the leader of an “escort and trafficking network of Iranian women and girls to some countries in the region,” the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported. Two women were sentenced to death two years ago on charges of "corruption on earth" and human trafficking. Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in 2017 added Iran to a U.S. list of countries accused of failing to crack down on human trafficking. “The Government of Iran does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” said the 2019 State Department report.

The women were found in Belgium, The Netherlands, or Germany but might have come from other countries, she said. Her body was discovered in 1991 in a rainwater well in the town of Holsbeek, some 40 km (25 miles) from Brussels. The operation focuses on female victims as "women are disproportionately affected by gender-based violence, such as sexual assault, human trafficking, and domestic abuse", Hitchin explained. Hitchin said that Interpol's global network will reach a wider public and might lead to someone recognising their loved one or a friend or a colleague. Reporting by Clement Rossignol, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Interpol: Authorities search for the names of 22 women murdered in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Radina Gigova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Authorities are trying to identify 22 women murdered in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands over the last few decades. Who they are, where they are from and why they were in these countries is unknown,” Interpol said. “The woman also wore dark plaid shorts, beige/brown knitted cardigan and a plastic or horn ring,” Interpol said. The woman in the well also wore dark plaid shorts. Belgium, German and Dutch police are working with Interpol on finding more information about the women.

☆ Interpol-led LatAm swoop seizes thousands of weapons, $5.7 bln in drugs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Reuters) - Interpol said on Tuesday its largest-ever fire arms swoop across Central and South America resulted in the seizure of thousands of illegal weapons and $5.7 billion worth of drugs after unprecedented cooperation by 15 countries. The operation found 8,263 illicit firearms and nearly 306,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as 203 tonnes of drugs and 372 tonnes of drug precursors. Eleven people were rescued in Paraguay when authorities dismantled a human trafficking ring, Interpol said. It said law enforcement had reported a spike in drug-related violence over the past year, fueled by trafficking of illegal firearms. The swoop saw participation from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

Seoul/Atlanta CNN —Interpol says a man arrested in Montenegro is Kwon Do-hyeong, also known as Do Kwon, the disgraced founder of a collapsed crypto company who is wanted in South Korea and the United States on fraud and other charges. Kwon, a South Korean national, founded the blockchain platform behind the TerraUSD stablecoin and its sister coin Luna. Kwon’s identity was confirmed through a fingerprint match, Interpol’s national central bureau in Seoul told CNN on Friday. Seoul prosecutors told CNN in December that the crypto entrepreneur was believed to be in Serbia, where he was in hiding after leaving Singapore via Dubai. Kwon has been charged with fraud and breaches of South Korea’s capital markets law.

☆ The mystery of MH370 remains 9 years later — here are all the theories, dead ends, and unanswered questions from the most bizarre airline disaster of the century
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The theories so farA new Netflix documentary about the plane, "MH370: The Plane That Disappeared," was released in March 2023. The show's director called the plane's disappearance "the greatest aviation mystery of all time." But the July 2018 report had offered evidence against the idea that it was a deliberate act by the crew. But Australia's former prime minister, Tony Abbott, said in 2020 that the plane's disappearance was "almost certainly murder-suicide by the pilot." But the 2018 report said there was no technology on the plane that would allow control to be taken from the pilots remotely.

☆ U.S. agrees to extradite former Peruvian President Toledo, says Peru
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LIMA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Peru's attorney general's office said on Tuesday on Twitter that the U.S. State Department had agreed to extradite former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo on corruption charges. Toledo, 76, was arrested in the United States in 2019 after Peru formally requested his extradition. Last August, the U.S. Department of Justice said it would return to Peru about $686,000 seized from Toledo. Federal prosecutors in the New York City borough of Brooklyn said Odebrecht had paid Toledo $25 million in bribes for highway construction contracts. Peru has faced a wave of corruption scandals related to the Odebrecht case in recent years.

☆ Indonesia to repatriate alleged drug trafficker to Italy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NUSA DUA, Bali, Indonesia, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Indonesian authorities will repatriate alleged drug trafficker Antonio Strangio, an Italian and Australian dual national who was detained in Bali earlier this month, to Italy on Sunday, authorities said. "After coordinating with National Central Bureau in Rome, he must be sent to Italy immediately. He will be delivered from here to Italy, and there he will be called to account on his case until there is a ruling," Anggaito said. Strangio was arrested on Feb.3 in Indonesia's resort island of Bali which he was transiting on his way home to Australia. Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Sultan Anshori in Bali, Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ SEC charges Do Kwon, Terraform with fraud in connection with Terra collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Do Kwon, co-founder and chief executive officer of Terraform Labs, insists that he is not on the run from South Korean authorities. Terraform Labs, the company that Kwon founded, is behind the collapsed cryptocurrencies terraUSD and luna, which combined were worth $60 billion before they crashed. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Terraform Labs and its CEO, Do Kwon, with fraud, alleging that they orchestrated a multibillion dollar "crypto asset securities fraud," the SEC said Thursday. The SEC alleges that Kwon marketed those assets, including those mAsset swaps and Terra, as profit-bearing securities, "repeatedly claiming" the tokens would increase in value. Kwon is wanted in South Korea for his involvement in the collapse of TerraUSD.

☆ Spanish police detain 23 for alleged soccer match-fixing in Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MADRID, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A group of 23 people, including soccer players, have been arrested as part of a probe into suspected match-fixing in non-professional Spanish, Andorran and Gibraltarian soccer leagues, Spanish police said on Tuesday. "A second layer of the scam comprised soccer players who took advantage of their position to organise the fixing in the teams under their influence," police said. No players were identified, but police said the ring targeted some 30 games in non-professional leagues such as Spain's third division and the local leagues of micro-state Andorra and British enclave Gibraltar. The investigation was carried out in 2021 and 2022 with the help of several organisations, including Spain's football federation RFEF, LaLiga, the Betting Market Global Investigation Service (SIGMA) and European governing body UEFA's Anti-Match-Fixing Unit. ($1 = 0.9246 euros)Reporting by Inti Landauro and Emma Pinedo; Editing by David Latona, Alexandra HudsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Here's what you need to know about a blockbuster court fight over Cuba's debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The legal battle is over a portion of Cuba's unpaid commercial debt dating back to the 1980s. If they don't reach a deal, Cuba could then face yet another court fight over whether it finally has to pay. Because of the U.S. embargo against Cuba, American investors are prohibited from owning and trading Cuban debt, which frustrates some frontier-market hedge fund managers in the U.S. They argue that holding Cuban debt would better serve U.S. foreign policy interests because it would give Americans a seat at some future negotiating table. CRF, meanwhile, says in court filings that it first reached out to Cuba 10 years ago to settle the debt but were ignored.

☆ Police in Thailand arrested an American man in connection with an alleged fraud that left a New Jersey deli worth $100 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Thai police arrested a man over an alleged fraud involving a firm that owned a New Jersey deli. Peter Coker Jr. was detained on January 11 at a hotel in Phuket, the Bangkok Post reported. His father, Peter Coker Sr., and James Patten were arrested in September and have pleaded not guilty. Coker Jr was the subject of arrest warrants issued by Interpol, per the Post, after being accused of stock market manipulation and fraud in September. The Post reported that Coker Jr. admitted he was the man wanted on the Interpol register.

☆ El Salvador arrests Colombian linked to Paraguayan prosecutor's murder
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Margareth Lizeth Chacon Zuniga, who, according to the authorities, participated in the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, assassinated on the island of Baru near Cartagena, Colombia, is presented to the media after her detention in San Salvador, El Salvador January 18, 2023. REUTERS/Jose CabezasSAN SALVADOR, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A Colombian suspect in the murder of a Paraguayan prosecutor last year was arrested in El Salvador and will be handed over to Colombian authorities, El Salvador's government said on Wednesday. Chacon arrived in El Salvador on May 26 and has since traveled to several Latin American countries, returning regularly to the capital of San Salvador, Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Security Gustavo Villatoro said. She will be handed over to Colombian authorities later on Wednesday, Villatoro said. Two other people authorities say are suspected of planning, paying and hiring Pecci's murderers were captured in Colombia on Sunday.

☆ Fugitive $100 million New Jersey deli defendant Peter Coker Jr. arrested in Thailand
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Peter Coker Jr., who last was known to be living in Hong Kong, is one of three people charged in the case involving the deli owner, Hometown International , and a related shell company, E-Waste . The Bangkok Post reported that the 54-year-old Coker Jr. was arrested on Jan. 11 in a hotel room in the Thalang district of Phuket province, Thailand. The newspaper said Coker Jr. was arrested pursuant to so-called red and black notices issued by the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol. Local Thai police, working with the FBI, arrested Coker, after tracking him to the hotel, The Post reported. Coker Jr. had served as chairman of Hometown International, whose sole asset for years was the Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, New Jersey.

☆ Jamaica seizes $80 million worth of cocaine from cargo ship
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Kate Chappell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KINGSTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Jamaican authorities have seized an estimated $80 million worth of cocaine from a ship at the port of Kingston in one of the country's biggest-ever drug busts, authorities said. Jamaican officials discovered the shipment hidden inside a cargo ship from South America, the Jamaica Constabulary Force said in a statement late on Saturday, putting its estimated street value at $80 million. The search of the cargo ship yielded more than 1,500 kilograms (3,306 lbs) of cocaine, the police said. Neither the police nor the defense force named the ship found to be carrying the cocaine and no arrests have been made. In October, global police agency Interpol said Jamaican authorities had made a record bust of 500 kilograms of cocaine, worth around $25 million, slated to be shipped on a private jet to Canada.

☆ Bolsonaro's Florida stay puts ball in Biden's court after Brasilia riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Gabriel Stargardter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro gestures, as he meets supporters at the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, December 12, 2022. REUTERS/Adriano MachadoRIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The United States has a Jair Bolsonaro problem. But Bolsonaro left behind a violent movement of election-denying supporters, who on Sunday stormed Brazil's presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court. "The United States should not be a refuge for this authoritarian who has inspired domestic terrorism in Brazil. Former Panamanian President Martinelli was extradited from the United States back to Panama in 2018, three years after Panama's Supreme Court issued its arrest warrant.

☆ Angolan court orders seizure of dos Santos's assets - Lusa news agency
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dos Santos has faced corruption accusations for years. In 2019, Angola's Supreme Court ordered the seizure of her assets for allegedly steering state funds to companies in which she held stakes during her father's presidency, including oil giant Sonangol. Dos Santos's father, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, died in July. A spokesperson for dos Santos did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The order comes after global police agency Interpol issued a red notice for dos Santos last month, asking global law enforcement authorities to locate and provisionally arrest her.

☆ Set to the Strokes, ‘Y2K Style’ Hits Luxury Fashion At Last
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A few men’s looks appeared on the runway at Celine’s fall/winter 2023 womenswear show, which summoned the indie-rock spirit of the early 2000s. LOS ANGELES—Hedi Slimane of LVMH fashion brand Celine waved his (skinny, black) magic wand Thursday night, transforming Los Angeles’s Wiltern Theater into a portal to the early 2000s. For his fall/winter 2023 womenswear show (which included some men’s styles), the brand’s creative lead sent 87 looks oozing with the debauched, indie-rock spirit of that period down the runway-cum-stage, set to a looped version of “Hello Operator” by the White Stripes, co-produced by the polymath Mr. Slimane himself. After the fashion show, the real show began: performances by Iggy Pop, Interpol, the Kills (as DJs) and the era’s ultimate mascots, the Strokes, now in their 40s.

☆ Interpol confirms red notice for Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Global police agency Interpol confirmed on Wednesday it had issued a red notice for Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the country's former president, asking global law enforcement authorities to locate and provisionally arrest her. Portugal's Lusa news agency reported on Nov. 18 that Interpol had issued an international arrest warrant for dos Santos. But Interpol told Reuters it had issued a red notice instead at the request of Angolan authorities. A source close to dos Santos said on Nov. 19 that she had yet to be notified by Interpol. Dos Santos has given interviews recently, telling CNN Portugal on Tuesday the courts in Angola were not independent" and judges there were "used to fulfil a political agenda".

☆ An exiled billionaire has given Chinese protesters 7 tips for stonewalling police if they get arrested
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui shared tips for how protesters can deal with police questioning. Guo posted his tips on Gettr, the social media site relaunched by a former Donald Trump aide. Guo Wengui, who is also a political activist, shared the tips in a post on Tuesday. Gettr is a social media app that was previously in Chinese and used by dissidents to oppose the Chinese Communist Party, according to Politico. Guo was accused of corruption and fled to the US in 2014 as the Chinese government initiated a campaign to discredit him.

☆ Angola's dos Santos not aware of Interpol arrest warrant, representative says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In a statement sent to Reuters, dos Santos' official source said her lawyers had "consulted the Interpol database and, so far, there was no reference to the issuance of a warrant". Portugal's Lusa news agency reported on Friday that Interpol had issued a warrant after public prosecutors in Angola asked the agency to "locate, arrest" and extradite dos Santos. According to Friday's report by Lusa, the arrest warrant mentions dos Santos is often in Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Authorities are aware of dos Santos' location, the official source said. Dos Santos' father, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who died in July, ruled Angola for almost four decades until 2017.

☆ Interpol issues arrest warrant for Angola's Isabel dos Santos, Lusa reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LISBON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Global police agency Interpol has issued an international arrest warrant for Angolan billionaire and daughter of the country's former president Isabel dos Santos, Portugal's Lusa news agency reported on Friday. According to Lusa, citing an official document, the INTERPOL warrant was issued after Angola's public prosecutors requested the agency to "locate, arrest" and extradite dos Santos. INTERPOL and the public prosecutors did not immediately reply to Reuters' requests for comment. According to Lusa, the arrest warrant mentions the businesswoman is often in Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Dos Santos' father, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, died in July this year and ruled Angola for almost four decades until 2017.

☆ Man arrested at Scottish hospital last year is U.S. fugitive who faked his own death, court rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Chantal Da Silva | Chantal Da Silva Is A Breaking News Editor For Nbc News Digital Based In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A man who was arrested in a Scottish hospital last year is in fact an American fugitive who faked his own death to avoid rape and sexual assault charges, a court ruled Friday. Nicholas Rossi, 35, has spent over a year trying to convince authorities that he is Arthur Knight, an orphan from Ireland who has never been to the U.S. “In 2018 the DNA profile from the Utah sexual assault came back as a match to a sexual assault case in Ohio,” Leavitt said in a statement in January. An Interpol red notice, with pictures of the wanted man, including images of his tattoos and fingerprints, helped officers from Police Scotland identify him. Leavitt admitted in January that Rossi would still probably be living “off the grid” had he not contracted Covid and required medical care.

☆ Medibank data breach: Australia blames cyber criminals in Russia for attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Medibank says the stolen data belongs to 9.7 million past and present customers, including 1.8 million international customers. Kershaw said police intelligence points to a “group of loosely affiliated cyber criminals” who are likely responsible for previous significant data breaches around the world, without naming specific examples. “These cyber criminals are operating like a business with affiliates and associates who are supporting the business. An initial ransom demand was made for $10 million (15 million Australian dollars), but the company said after extensive consultation with cybercrime experts it had decided not to pay. In his statement on Friday, Kershaw, the AFP Commissioner, said Australian government policy did not condone paying ransoms to cyber criminals.

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