On 11 June, C4ADS published a report on the illicit market which connects suppliers in Ukraine’s occupied territories with buyers around the world, from the UK to Hong Kong, and even to North Korea. To circumvent EU and US sanctions and obscure the origins of the products, Russian enterprises have used a complex network of firms located in Moscow, Rostov, and self-declared republics like South Ossetia and Abkhazia – and use secrecy jurisdictions and complex webs of companies to hide their activity.
Day: September 12, 2020
FRAUD PREVENTION START-UP LAYS OFF HUNDREDS OF EMPLOYEES AFTER INFORMING THEM IT WAS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR FRAUD
On 11 September, an article in Forbes poses the question first put forward in Roman times by Juvenal – who watches the watchers? The Las Vegas-based company said that it was forced to downsize after “sudden and unforeseen circumstances”, and with the SEC investigating the company for alleged fraud. This comes just months after the company had announced a massive $123 million venture capital funding, in a funding round valued the company at more than $400 million.
EU CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: EORI NUMBER NOW MANDATORY IN NEW APPLICATIONS FOR ACTION ON IP RIGHTS
On 11 September, an article from Hogan Lovells explains that the Economic Operators Registration and Identification number, basically an ID number for customs purposes that is assigned by a customs authority to any businesses or people (aka economic operators) wishing to trade in the EU has just become (i.e. from 15 September) a mandatory field in any customs application for action (AFA). A customs Application for Action (AFA) must be submitted to a competent customs department designated by the Member State for customs to act at the borders on behalf of the right holder. The main purpose of AFA is to request customs to detain goods found to be suspected of infringing your intellectual property rights (IPR).
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/eu-customs-enforcement-eori-number-now-64509/
GERMANY GETS TOUGH IN THE FIGHT AGAINST MAFIA CLANS
On 12 September, Deutsche Welle reported a high-profile trial of a mafia leader and raids against criminal clans. The trial involves testimony from star witness, rapper Bushido, whose father was Tunisian and whose real name is Anis Ferchichi. The trial involves a Lebanese immigrant mafia clan. The accused are from are one of several large families of Arab descent that have repeatedly attract police attention – and, with about 250 members, they are not even the largest. The article also names the Remmo family, with an estimated 500 members. One of its more spectacular coups was the theft of a hundred-kilo gold coin from the Berlin Bode Museum in 2017, for which three young men were sentenced to several years in February. The gold, worth more than €3 million, has disappeared, and police believe it was probably melted.
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-mafia-clans-bushido-organized-crime/a-54898798
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