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]

On July 1, 2022, an agreement to return 1,130 bronze and other cultural artifacts was signed in Berlin by Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Commissioner for Culture, the Media, and Claudia Roth, Nigeria’s Minister of Culture Lai Mohammed and Minister for State for Foreign Affairs Zabairo Dada.  The agreement is the single largest repatriation of artifacts anywhere in the world and follows a century of controverted restitution claims.[1]

On July 5, 2022, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved a Recommendation to strengthen INTERPOL’s ability to stop authoritarian regimes abusing its tools.[1] The Recommendation, which sets out the Parliament’s positions on the EU’s cooperation agreement with INTERPOL, received overwhelming support from MEPs with 607 voting in favor, 13 against, and 11 abstentions. It highlights the need for more transparency and effective procedures to prevent Red Notice abuse.

On June 29, 2022, Thai law enforcement authorities arrested a Malaysian national wanted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (US FWS) for allegedly trading in elephant tusks and rhinoceros’ horns.  Thai officials arrested Teo Boon Ching, 58, called by the US FWS as “the Godfather” as a result of his alleged global network of wildlife trading.  Thai authorities also obtained an arrest warrant by the Criminal Court on June 29, 2022 for trading in wildlife and money laundering.[1]

On June 28, the Group of 7 Leaders’ Communique following the meeting of the heads of government in Elmau, Germany on June 26-28, 2022 addressed several global crime threats, making many recommendations on new and deepening solutions.

On June 23, 2022, Former Nigerian senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu were charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, “namely organ harvesting.”  Shortly after their detainment by the Metropolitan Police of London, the couple were denied bail.