A news release from US DoJ on 15 July advised that a Senior Executive Service (SES) employee of NASA was sentenced to 18 months in prison for submitting fraudulent applications for over $350,000 in COVID-19 economic relief loans and benefits.  Andrew Tezna, 36, fraudulently submitted 3 loan applications to 2 financial institutions totalling $272,284, under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/senior-nasa-employee-sentenced-covid-19-related-loan-fraud

 

 

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The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2021 comes into force on 16 July and adds The Base to the list of organisations that are proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000.  The Terrorism Act 2006 also provides that an offence in connection with membership of a proscribed organisation have extra-territorial jurisdiction, having effect that where a person takes an action outside of the UK that if done in the UK would have amounted to an offence under the Act, they shall be guilty of that offence.  For some relevant offences providing support and wearing of uniforms and images), they only apply if at the time of committing the offence the person is a UK national or a UK resident.  The Home Office explains that The Base is a predominantly US-based militant white supremacist group, formed in 2018.  It draws influence from a collection of essays which advocate for the use of violence to initiate the collapse of modern society through a ‘race war’ and the subsequent creation of a white ethno-state – this ideology is known as ‘accelerationism’.  It has links with other internationally-based National Socialist groups and individuals and seeks to provide terrorist training, guidance and networking.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/853/pdfs/uksi_20210853_en.pdf

 

 

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On 14 July, a news release from Global Affairs Canada advised that it has imposed sanctions on additional individuals in response to ongoing human rights violations in Nicaragua.  The sanctions involve an asset freeze, a ban on providing financial or related services, and are they are also rendered inadmissible for entry into Canada.

https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2021/07/additional-nicaraguan-sanctions.html

https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2021/07/canada-imposes-sanctions-on-additional-individuals-in-response-to-ongoing-human-rights-violations-in-nicaragua.html

 

 

 

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A new report from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at the Bar-Ilan University in Israel says that Hezbollah has built a well-oiled, multi-billion-dollar money laundering and drug trafficking machine in Latin America that cleans organised crime’s ill-gotten gains through multiple waypoints in the Western hemisphere, West Africa, Europe and the Middle East.  It focuses on the Tri-Border Area (TBA), where the frontiers of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet.  The report sets out to explain how the laundromat works, and what the US can do to stop it.

https://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/194web.pdf

 

 

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The World Economic Forum has produced this paper which introduces the Unifying Framework – a value‑based self‑regulatory framework for private sector intermediaries who are strategically positioned to prevent or interrupt illicit financial flows – collectively referred to as “gatekeepers”.  It consists of 5 core practices and is intended to realise 3 fundamental principles within and across gatekeeping industries worldwide.  The framework provides a mechanism for recognition, ownership, consensus building and collaboration within a diverse community of private sector professionals, from art advisers to bankers to real estate agents, among others.

https@//www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Gatekeepers_A_Unifying_Framework_2021.pdf

 

 

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On 15 July, OCCRP reported that the CEO of Equatorial Guinea’s state oil company is accused of skimming petroleum profits, while reporters have linked him to luxury properties around the world.  Antonio Oburu owns properties in Houston, Madrid, Limassol, and Accra via a network of shell companies.  He married into Equatorial Guinea’s presidential family and he and his wife bought Cypriot citizenship via a scandal-hit cash-for-passports scheme.  The power couple running Equatorial Guinea’s national oil company secretly oversee a global property empire –– which reporters discovered hidden behind a veil of shell companies –– that even their hefty pay packages cannot explain.

https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/petroleum-profits-and-expensive-estates-equatorial-guinea-oil-chiefs-wealth-revealed

 

 

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On 15 July, a report in OCCRP says that a new investigation has claimed that for over a decade, Ikea has reportedly sourced wood for some of its products from companies guilty of illegally logging millions of pine trees from Russia’s boreal forest – a protected region that is considered pivotal towards efforts to combat climate change.  The Swedish furniture giant announced that it ended the practice in June, after the findings in the investigation were shared with the company.  

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/14838-report-ikea-linked-to-illegal-logging-in-protected-russian-forests

The report from Earthsight is at –

https://www.earthsight.org.uk/news/investigations/ikea-house-of-horrors

 

 

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On 15 July, The Guardian published an article saying that more than 2,000 people, including individuals sought by police, have purchased passports, and with them visa-free access to the EU and UK.  Among those granted citizenship through the country’s development support program were a Syrian businessman with US sanctions against his businesses, a suspected North Korean politician, an Italian businessman accused of extorting the Vatican, a “bikie” a former member of a notorious Australian motorcycle gang, and South African brothers accused of a $3.6 billion cryptocurrency heist.  The scheme allows foreign nationals to purchase citizenship for $130,000 in a process that typically takes just over a month – all without ever setting foot in the country, and marketed by agencies as one of the fastest, cheapest and most lax “golden passport” schemes anywhere in the world.  The Guardian obtained official documents under FoI and has been able to confirm the identities of dozens of the individuals on the list.  More than half were granted to Chinese nationals. After Chinese, the most common nationality of recipients was Nigerian, Russian, Lebanese, Iranian, Libyan, Syrian and Afghan. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/15/citizenship-for-sale-fugitives-politicians-and-disgraced-businesspeople-buying-vanuatu-passports

 

 

 

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