In August 2021, U.S. indictments against an international enterprise based in Florida, a man in southern California, and collaboration by countries with Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database has led to the arrest by Guatemalan law enforcement of a suspected prolific child sexual abuser.

On August 20, 2021, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on seven Russian agents for their involvement in poisoning Alexei Navalny, a Russian political oppositionist and anti-corruption figure. These sanctions come on the anniversary of Navalny’s poisoning on August 20, 2020. He was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent that left him hospitalized and in critical condition. [1]

                On June 2 and 3, 2021, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) announced that, due to an unprecedented financial crisis, it would not be able to conclude the judicial proceedings in the two cases currently before the Tribunal and would not be able to operate beyond July 2021.  The Tribunal also suspended all decisions on filings presently before it and any future filings until further notice.[1]

In 2020, allegations of money laundering and fraud were brought against Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe, a South African businesswoman,. Motsepe-Radebe is the wife of former justice minister, Jeff Radebe and a sister-in-law to the South African President, Cyril Ramphosa.[1] The allegations against Motsepe-Radebe stem from the 2019 “Butterfly” spy case in which former intelligence officer, Welheminah Maswabi, was accused of funneling  money from the Botswana government to finance terrorism.[2] Motsepe-Radebe and Maswabi have been linked to the alleged $10.1 billion stolen from Botswana through South African bank accounts.[3] According to the prosecution, Motsepe-Radebe has been “identified as a co-signatory of at least two bank accounts holding some of the more than $10 billion allegedly stolen from the Botswana government to finance a ‘coup’ before the national election in this country.”[4] Motsepe-Radebe has also been accused of aiding Botswana’s former president, Ian Khama, in attempting to dislodge the standing president, Mokgweetsi Masisi.[5] Motsepe-Radebe has repeatedly denied all allegations.[6]

On August 11, 2021, Britain’s High Court allowed the United States government to expand the bases for appealing a district court decision to deny extradition of WikiLeaks found Julian Assange, a 50 -year-old Australian national, on hacking into military databases and disclosing classified information.[1]

On June 30, 2012, the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC)  published its decisions following its 79th Plenary Session on  June 28-30, 2021, which occurred remotely due to the pandemic.[1]

            On August 10, 2021, BitMEX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, agreed to pay $100 million for not abiding by U.S. laws while permitting U.S. residents to use the platform and not implementing an anti-money laundering program.[1]

                Xizhi Li, a Chinese national and naturalized United States citizen, pleaded guilty yesterday to his involvement in a conspiracy to launder at least $30 million in drug proceeds on behalf of foreign drug-trafficking organizations.[1]  Li played a leadership role within a years-long conspiracy to use a foreign casino, foreign and domestic front companies, foreign and domestic bank accounts, false passports, and other false identification documents to launder money on behalf of transnational drug-trafficking organizations.[2]

On August 5, 2021, the United States Department of Justice announced it has returned an additional $452 million in embezzled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds it has forfeited to the people of Malaysia.  The U.S. has now returned over $1.2 billion in forfeited 1MDB funds.[1]

Court documents show the funds from 1MDB, formerly Malaysia’s investment development fund, were laundered through major financial institutions worldwide, including in the U.S., Switzerland, Singapore, and Luxembourg.