Welcome to This Week In Compliance: GAN’s weekly news roundup, where we curate the latest stories on compliance and anti-corruption to keep you informed. This week, INTERPOL launched a new global anti-corruption center. Read the full story and more news below:
Top Story
Interpol Announces Launch of Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center
Due to an exponential growth in transnational financial crime, the world police body INTERPOL has launched the Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC). The center is meant to provide coorindated global response against financial crimes, which have increased exponentially due to increased globalization and digitalization. INTERPOL said that criminals are more efficient at committing financial crimes, as well as operating more sophisticated, harder to detect schemes.
Government
U.S. Orders More Sanctions on Russia to Disrupt Ukraine Invasion
The U.S. ordered more sanctions against Russian officials and oligarchs that are suspected to be facilitators of the regime in Russia responsible the invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. Department of the Treasury reported Friday that among the new targets for sanctions would be Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for Vladimir Putin. Peskov is known as the lead propagandist in the Russian war effort. Viktor Feliksovich Vekselberg, a financier with extensive holdings in the country’s economy, is also ordered to be sanctioned.
Human Trafficker Sentenced to 38 Years in Prison
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced this week that a man who had turned his Texas farm into a human and drug trafficking hub has been sentenced to 38 years in federal prison. Gilberto Morales, a Cuban man who owned a 160-acre ranch in a border town in Texas, was found guilty of using his land as a known smuggling route for drugs and illegal immigrants from Mexico. Since 2019, he regularly coorindated with Mexican drug cartels to smuggle drugs and undocumented people through the border.
Business
Apple May Fight EU Digital Markets Act
The European Union is set to adopt the Digtal Markets Act (DMA), which would help to encourage fair competition among digital app marketplaces, such as the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. For Apple, the act would require the App Store to accept different payment method types within apps, as well as compel apps to be available for download outside of Apple’s “walled garden”. The DMA is set to be formerly adopted by the end of 2022, but Apple is expected to take several appeals measures that could extend the need for their compliance by up to 18-months.