On July 25, two nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) pleaded guilty to acting as unregistered agents of the PRC and bribing an IRS agent in connection with a conspiracy to target U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that the PRC forbids. The defendants pleading guilty were John Chen, 71, of the PRC and Los Angeles, California, and Lin Feng, 44, also a resident of Los Angeles. 

        Between April 10 and July 3, 21 countries ran an international law enforcement operation, Operation Jackal III, to thwart the schemes of West African cybercrime syndicates. The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) which helps national police work together to track and investigate suspects, criminals, and criminal organizations, led the operation.

        With the help of Europol and INTERPOL, law enforcement officials from 25 countries recovered 6,400 cultural goods and made 85 arrests in yet another phase of Operation Pandora. The operation involved “several thousand checks [conducted] at airports, ports and border crossing points, as well as in auction houses, museums and private residences.

        Mickey Bergman shares behind the scenes stories of his tireless and creative work to free hostages held by foreign nations.  In many cases the U.S. had terrible relations with them (i.e., Russia) or no formal diplomatic relations (I.e., Iran and Myrnamar).  The resulting work required "fringe diplomacy," emotional intelligence, and a delicate balance of strength among shifting power dynamics.

                 On July 8, 2024, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released a horizontal review of gatekeepers’ technical compliance related to corruption.  Although the Horizontal Review shows positive results with over half of FATF members having scores over 80%, seven FATF members have below the score of 50%. These jurisdictions represent more than half (50.89%) of the world’s GDP.

                 Over the last two weeks (end of June until July 12, 2024) various UN bodies, including the Secretary-General, Security Council, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) have voiced serious concerns regarding the Sahel. Terrorism and organized crime by violent extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State are a “pervasive threat” in Africa's volatile Sahel region and are spilling over to West Africa's coastal countries.

                The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its annual World Drug Report on June 26, 2024.  The report summarizes a somber but eminently foreseeable conclusion: drug use, its production, and the associated violence and environmental harm are on the rise.  Worldwide, drug use in 2024 has reached a record of 292 million users — amounting to a 20% increase over ten years.

        On July 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced[1] the seizure[2] of two domain names and the search[3] of 968 X (formerly Twitter) accounts used by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to spread disinformation. These fraudulent accounts often purported to belong to individuals in the United States. 

        On July 8, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it has settled a civil forfeiture case against a mansion in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles belonging to the family of Gagik Khachatryan, the former most senior official in charge of taxes and customs official in the Republic of Armenia.

        On Monday, July 8, 2024, the Court of Appeal in Metz determined that Ian Thomas Cleary can be extradited to the U.S. for pending sexual assault charges. When asked if he wanted to be extradited, per French Law, he refused.[1] Cleary’s refusal may delay the extradition process but will ultimately not prevent it, as the ruling is final.