Swiss courts have cleared both UBS and a former Credit Suisse compliance officer in the Mozambique “Tuna Bond’ case.  On April 13, 2026, media reported that Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court found that UBS could not be held responsible for alleged misconduct related to events that occurred well before UBS took over Credit Suisse on an emergency basis.  The court explained that “(t)ransferring criminal liability to UBS, coupled with its conviction and the payment of a fine as a criminal penalty, would violate the principle of culpability” and would be against both the Swiss constitution and European Convention on Human Rights.”[1]

               On May 13, 2026,  the Caribbean Community (CARICOM ) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS)  announced that it and Crime Stoppers for the Caribbean, Bermuda and Latin America (CBLA Crime Stoppers Foundation) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase regional cooperation in support of crime prevention, intelligence coordination and citizen participation across the Caribbean.  The parties signed the agreement on May 12, 2026 in Paramaribo, Suriname, during the Annual Conference of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP).  The MOU targets serious and transnational organized crime affecting the Caribbean.  The MOU preceded by one week the start by CARICOM-UNDP of the diagnostic document and action framework, entitled A Regional Approach to Addressing Crime, Violence, Resilience, and Human Security in the Caribbean.

               The recent arrival of third country deportees from the United States into Sierra Leone generated considerable controversy due to the migrants’ lack of cultural or political connection to the tiny West African nation.[2] The migrants are nationals of Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, and Nigeria

               Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn asked a judge to drop bribery-related charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. In the letter, the prosecutors said they decided “not to devote further resources” to the case against Mr. Adani and seven others

               On May 13, 2026, US District Judge Richard Leon granted a preliminary injunction to remove Francesca Albanese from the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) sanctions list.  This removal was short lived. Albanese’s name was added back to the sanctions list on May 27, 2026, after the U.S. government appealed the decision and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals enabled the reinstatement of Albanese’s name pending further court orders

               The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is often described as the first comprehensive, horizontal legal framework for artificial intelligence. The AI Act operates as the mechanism through which artificial intelligence systems are brought within the European Union’s (EU) broader architecture of market supervision, data protection, product safety, cybersecurity resilience, and civil accountability.

               On May 7, 2026, four Australian women and their nine children arrived in Australia from Syrian camps in hopes of repatriation.  Three of the women were arrested upon arrival. 

               On May 18, 2026, Venezuela’s former Minister of Industry and National Production appeared in court in the Southern District of Florida to answer charges of his alleged participation in an international money laundering conspiracy concerning the corruption and exploitation of a Venezuelan public welfare program intended to bring food to indigent Venezuelans.  The development is important since the Venezuelan government extradited Alex Nain Saab Moran, 55, even though he was a Venezuelan national. 

               On May 10, 2026, the United States Marshals Service (USMS) Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team (DFAT) announced the arrest of a fugitive on the lam for more than 30 years after accusations that he committed murder in 1993.  In September 1993, days after the murder of his roommate, Rodney Barger, 23, on September 15, Detroit police arrested Richard Werstine, 56.

              In 2016 France adopted a law known universally as the Loi Sapin 2 as part of a thorough revamping of its national prosecutorial functions and in particular its ability to address transnational crime such as corruption and money laundering.  Earlier in the decade, many of Europe’s (and France’s) corporate icons such as industrial giant Alstom and petroleum giant Total had entered into humiliating guilty pleas or deferred prosecution agreements with the US Department of Justice where they paid huge fines for activity with few links to the United States, while French prosecutors did virtually nothing – and did not participate in the payouts.