On October 14, Interpol announced the results of an international crackdown against the Black Axe and other related West-African organized crime groups.  Codenamed Operation Jackal, the law enforcement episode is the first global operation specifically targeting Black Axe, a hacking group implicated in cyber-based financial fraud and other serious crimes, and ultimately yielded 75 arrests.[1]

On October 13, 2022, INTERPOL announced the completion of Operation VII, a joint firearms operation between INTERPOL and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS).  The operation resulted in the seizure of 350 weapons, 3,300 rounds of ammunition, and record drug seizures across the Caribbean.[1]

On October 19, the Department of Justice released the indictment against five Russian and two Venezuelan nationals accused of global money laundering, oil smuggling, and trading with sanctioned entities.  Additionally, the Russian defendants are accused of helping Russia acquire sophisticated military technology from U.S., some of which has been traced to the battlefields in Ukraine.[1]

On October 27, 2022, Global Financial Integrity issued a report; Made in China: China’s Role in Transnational Crime and Illicit Financial Flows By Channing Mavrellis & John Cassara.  Simultaneously, GFI also held a webinar, discussing the report. This article summarizes the highlights the report.

On October 18, 2022, a Serbian man identified by authorities only by the initials S.S. was arrested by Hungarian authorities.[1] S.S. was arrested on an international arrest warrant filed by the Kosovan authorities for suspected participation in criminal events that occurred from March 26 to May 28, 1999.[2] The alleged criminal activity took place during a bloody war in 1998-1999 that ended with NATO intervention.[3] Ten Thousand ethnic Albanians were killed during the conflict and more than One Thousand Six Hundred are still missing.[4]

On October 20, 2022, the Ugandan Standards, Utilities, and Wildlife Court meted out a sentence of life in prison to Pascal Ochiba, who was convicted of illegal possession of wildlife products, including two pieces of elephant ivory weighing a total of 9.55 kilograms.  The sentence was Uganda’s strongest punishment ever for wildlife violations.[1]

 On September 30, 2022, Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor of the U.S. District Court in Boston dismissed the Mexican government’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers and a wholesale distributor, seeking to hold them liable for alleged illegal trafficking of guns to Mexico.[1]  On October 10, the Mexican government filed a new lawsuit against gun distributors in the U.S. District Court in Arizona.

On October 25, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office of France and Credit Suisse reached a settlement, in which Credit Suisse has agreed to pay €238 million ($235 million) to the French government in exchange for settling potential charges of aggravated tax fraud laundering, illegal solicitation of clients, and related charges.[1]

On October 18, 2022, Lafarge S.A. (Lafarge), a global building materials manufacturer headquartered in France, and Lafarge Cement Syria, S.A. (LCS), a Lafarge subsidiary headquartered in Syria, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information  charging it with conspiring to furnish material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and the al-Nusrah Front (ANF), both U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.[1]  Following the guilty pleas, United States District Judge William F. Kuntz, II sentenced the defendants to terms of probation and to pay financial penalties, including criminal fines of $90.78 million and forfeiture of $687 million, totaling $777.78 million.[2]

On October 20, 2022, after Mexico extradited him, Jaime Gonzalez Duran, a Mexican national, had his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to face international drug charges.