On July 14, 2022, an article in an Angolan paper revealed that the Cape Verdean Central Bank ordered the “administrative liquidation” of the BIC Cabo Verde bank (BIC-CV) for which Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos was a majority owner.  The Central Bank appointed a liquidation commission that immediately started managing the bank.[1]

On July 15, 2022, Mexican marines captured drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who is on the FBI’s Top 10 most wanted fugitives list and subject to a $20 million bounty.  

On July 12, 2022, in a Ministerial-level virtual meeting with over 17 countries and several international organizations, the United States government has reaffirmed and provided additional commitments with respect to supporting Haiti with respect to police and security assistance, including investigating the assassination of President Moïse and combating gang activity.  The U.S. also made commitments with respect to migration.

On June 27, 2022, a court in Switzerland ordered Credit Suisse to pay 21 million francs in connection to money laundering offences between 2007 and 2008.  During that period, a bank employee aided Bulgarian drug smugglers in laundering millions of dollars’ worth of cash through a process known as “smurfing.”  The ruling is the latest in a line of legal woes faced by the bank in recent years.

On July 5, 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order filing and simultaneously settling charges against BNP Paribas (BNPP), an international financial services corporation and swap dealer, for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and Commission regulations concerning swap reporting and daily mark disclosures.[1]

On July 12, 2022, Herdade Lokua, 34, and Jospin Mjangi, 32, of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to conspiracy and Lacey Act charges.  On November 3, 2021, indictments were issued on eleven counts concerning trafficking wildlife from the DRC to Seattle.  The court scheduled the sentencing hearing for November 1.[1]

On June 22, 2022, Bram van der Kolk and Mathias Ortmann, who have fought extradition to the U.S. for more than a decade, pleaded guilty in New Zealand.  Meanwhile, the U.S. extradition case for Kim Dotcom continues.[1]

On June 30, 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it has given Notification of Blocked Property to Heritage Trust, a Delaware-based trust in which OFAC-designated Russian oligarch Suleiman Abusaidovich Kerimov has a property interest.  On June 29, 2022, the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarch (REPO) Task Force announced it has blocked or frozen more than $30 billion worth of sanctioned Russians’ assets.  On June 28, 2022, the U.S. Treasury announced it was implementing G7 commitments by prohibiting gold imports and targeting Russian defense industrial base, military and intelligence units, and sanctions evaders.

On July 6, 2022, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned a superseding indictment, charging five defendants, including one current federal law enforcement officer and one retired federal law enforcement officer, with crimes concerning an alleged transnational repression scheme executed on behalf of the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).[1]

On June 30, 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Palestinian rights group Lawyers for Justice released (LFJ) a joint report on the situation of detainees held by the security and police forces. The report was submitted to the United Nations' Committee Against Torture.[1]