On April 3, 2023, Europol and Eurojust Assisted a coordinated action against a fraudulent online investment platform, which is responsible for a loss of an estimated €89 million to at least 33,000 victims.  Working with German authorities, two action days occurred in March, during which law enforcement arrested five suspects.  In addition, law enforcement searched 15 locations in Bulgaria, Romania, and Israel, including five illegal call centers.[1]

On February 28, 2023, the Assad government was served by a complaint filed by the Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. alleging torture in its detention centers.  The CJA is representing Syrian-American Obada Mzaik, who was allegedly detained and tortured at the Air Force Intelligence Branch at the Mezzeh Military Airport in January 2012.[1]

On February 9, 2023, the Belgian law firm Van Steenbrugge Advocaten (VSA), Belgium-based NGO Turkey Tribunal, and the European Magistrates for Democracy and Freedom (MEDEL) filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Turkey for alleged crimes against humanity.  The lawyers claim that Erdogan’s regime perpetrated systematic attacks on the civilian population to promote his agenda following the 2016 coup attempt and showed contempt for basic principles of international law.

On April 8, Tanzanian law enforcement captured South African fugitive Thabo Bester, a convicted rapist and murderer, after he escaped his prison cell in March 2022 when he faked his own death.  At his arrest, he was found with his girlfriend Nandipha Magudamana, a celebrity doctor, and another man.^[1]

On April 4, 2023, the United States Department of Justice announced Mexico has extradited to the United States a Mexican national and alleged high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, an international drug trafficking organization formerly headed by Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka El Chapo, and Ismael Zambada Garcia, aka El Mayo.  The extradition occurred pursuant to international drug trafficking and firearms charges.  

On April 3, 2023, the trial started against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) leaders in the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) in The Hague.

On April 7, 2023, the United Arab Emirates announced its denial of South Africa’s request to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta, two brothers.  South Africa has charged the Gupta brothers of working with former President Jacob Zuma to commit fraud and launder millions of dollars.  South Africa’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola confirmed that the UAE had denied its extradition request.[1]

On April 3, the Dubai attorney general, Essam Al Humaidan, issued a statement that the Dubai Court of Cassation has ruled that British hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah must be extradited to Denmark,   where Danish authorities have charged him with orchestrating a $1.8 billion tax fraud.[1]

On March 23, 2023, Montenegrin authorities arrested Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, who is wanted in both South Korea and the United States after a $40 billion crash of his firm’s cryptocurrency that had adverse consequences throughout the world.[1]

On March 27, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) brought suit against Binance, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange based in Malta, alleging violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC rules. These allegations include: allowing users to trade on the platform without verifying their identities, instructing U.S. customers on how to avoid compliance controls despite purporting to bar American users from its offshore platform, failing to register as a futures commission merchant (FCM) under the CFTC,  and willfully evading the requirements of the CEA.[1]