A multi-million dollar scheme to bribe top African officials in order to boost a Chinese energy company has landed Patrick Ho, a former Hong Kong government official who US Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman on Monday called “brazen,” to three years in jail.

The illegal wildlife trade in Hong Kong is booming, according to a new study, and consequently contributing to a global extinction crisis by supplying an increasing demand for wildlife products in Asia, particularly China.

The United States on Wednesday convicted a former Hong Kong official who was backed by a Chinese energy firm of bribery and money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York.

Over the past 17 years, nearly 96 million large sea snails valued at US$900 million have been illegally poached off the coast of South Africa and trafficked by organized crime groups, a new report released Wednesday reveals.

A court in Hong Kong doled out a three-month sentence on Monday to a woman for importing a 29-ton shipment of endangered Honduran rosewood, the news portal Coconuts HK reported.

A US judge has denied bail to a former Hong Kong home affairs secretary accused of money laundering, conspiracy, and bribery, Reuters reported Monday.

 The Tax Justice Network released their Financial Secrecy Index on Tuesday, ranking Switzerland and the United States as the top two countries most attractive for tax evaders and money launderers. This is the second time in a row that the US has risen on the index, marking a fall in terms of transparency.

One of the major players behind an international crime syndicate that laundered AUS$ 29 million (US$ 21.8 million) of drug money out of Australia was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the Justice Ministry said Thursday.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) fined the private British bank Coutts HK$ 7 million (US$ 900,000) Tuesday for breaching anti-money laundering rules, after the bank had been hit with similar fines in Switzerland and Singapore for its connection to Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal.

The High Court in Auckland sent Tuesday a Hong Kong man behind bars for 11 and a half years for his involvement in a multi-million dollar Chinese drug syndicate, New Zealand media reported.

Five men were arrested and charged after Australian and Chinese police caught them trying to import over US$ 100 million worth of crystal meth into Australia, police said Monday.

Hong Kong authorities said Monday they have seized more than one ton of shark fins in the past two months. 

Former Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang was sentenced on Wednesday to 20 months in prison for misconduct in public office, making him the city’s highest-ranking official to be put behind bars.

Hong Kong’s former leader Donald Tsang abused his power for personal gain and failed to be transparent about his business relationships while in office, prosecutors said Tuesday at the beginning of his high-profile corruption trial, AFP reports.

Australian law enforcement seized an estimated 720 liters of liquid methamphetamine worth an estimated AU$ 1.26 billion (US$ 900 million), according to a news release on the Australian Minister for Justice website.