Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Prosecutors Friday confirmed that Romania's former President, Traian Basescu, is being investigated for money laundering – information he himself had posted on his Facebook page on April 20.

The European Central Bank (ECB) will discontinue printing the 500 Euro bank note due to it being widely used for illicit activities, following a Wednesday decision.

The co-founder of Liberty Reserve, a digital currency company based in Costa Rica, was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison for an “unprecedented” money laundering scheme at a Manhattan federal court.

The White House has announced a set of measures aimed at combating financial crimes and strengthening financial transparency, including regulations requiring companies to reveal additional information on their owners to the International Revenue Service.

Portuguese authorities dismantled a transnational criminal group, composed of mainly Russian citizens, which allegedly utilized the football sector and offshore tax havens to launder money since at least 2008.

Kosovo prosecutors initiated a crackdown on an organized crime gang, allegedly run by ruling party lawmaker Azem Syla, that they say deprived the state of public property worth about 30 million Euros (US$ 34 million).

The US Treasury Department said Wednesday that a new rule is expected soon compelling US banks to identify the owners of shell companies, Reuters reported.

New information on the Panama Papers story about the billions of dollars allegedly being moved around offshore by a close friend of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin emerged Tuesday, as Lithuanian law enforcement verified some of the details.

Bosnia and Herzegovina State Police (SIPA) have detained 10 people for questioning, suspected of being part of an organized crime group which fleeced Bobar Bank of around 123 million Bosnian Marks (US$ 71.5 million). The fraud has shaken the country's banking sector, prosecutors said.

Swiss prosecutors have charged an ex-Credit Suisse wealth manager with fraud, misappropriation and criminal mismanagement, Bloomberg reported. The bank also faces a money laundering probe in Italy, Reuters said.

The US Department of Justice has charged three people from Turkey and Iran with moving hundreds of millions of dollars for the government of Iran and Iranian companies, in an apparent attempt to evade economic sanctions.

Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva was charged late Wednesday with money laundering and tax misrepresentation, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said, and prosecutors want him arrested, according to the Guardian.

Russia is often criticized as a major source of international money laundering but its Central Bank’s official figures suggest it’s starting to get on top of the problem, based on US State Department reports.

Latvia’s financial regulator has fined the Baltic International Bank (BIB) € 1.1 million (US$ 1.2 million) due to repeated violations of laws regarding money laundering, terrorist financing and customer due diligence, a news release by the regulator said today.

The Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) said Thursday that the European Central Bank (ECB) has revoked Trasta Komercbanka’s license effective immediately.

It took five days and nearly 200 interviews, but police across Europe last week arrested 81 people accused of working as “money mules” for cybercriminals, helping transport or launder an estimated € 7.5 million (US$ 8.1 million), according to Dutch police.

Eleven members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) were charged with conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to an indictment from the US District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division. 

Two lawmakers that anti-corruption prosecutors sought to arrest on Feb. 10 are still free after Parliament failed to approve the request, according to local media. 

Five directors of the Spanish branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have been arrested as part of a probe into alleged money laundering of more than € 40 million (US$ 44 million), according to a Feb. 17 news release from Europol.

The Sofia City Court (SSC) has closed a money-laundering case against Hristo Bisserov, former Bulgarian Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and long-time lawmaker.