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Financial Crime Weekly Podcast

Author: Christopher Kirkbride

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Welcome to the Financial Crime UK Weekly podcast. I’m Chris Kirkbride and I lecture law.

This is an introductory podcast to give you a guide as to the sort of things which we will be looking at on this podcast in the first week of every month. However, there will be specials and additional podcasts out of this sequence if something happens which is significant and deserves a special episode.

So, what are the sort of things we’ll be talking about? Well, we will cover news, events, legal developments, and anything else that relates to financial crime, in the UK – obviously, because that is in the podcast title – but also in other jurisdictions. No man is an island and financial crime certainly does not respect national borders.

Broadly, the coverage will be all aspects of:

Fraud | Bribery | Market abuse and insider dealing | Money laundering and terrorist financing | Data and information theft | Cybercrime (phishing / smishing) and the challenges generated by fintech in terms of finance crime threats.

While these might be financial crimes, strictly speaking, but that is not all. It is necessary to reflect on the responses to financial crime which the state adopts. While this is less about fines and imprisonment, we will focus on confiscation and recovery schemes, sanctions imposed on those who have committed financial crimes, together with arrangements designed to allow the offender to avoid/defer prosecution, namely, deferred prosecution agreements.

Consideration will also be given to the regulatory architecture of financial crime, both domestic and international – as stated, financial crime does not respect borders – together with regulatory enforcement and aspects of the compliance industry – the industry which helps commercial entities stay on the right side of the law.

Finally, and this is a particular interest of mine, but I am fascinated by the interface between criminal and civil law where the facts of an event could lead to prosecution or civil action. Consequently, while this is a financial crime podcast, we will also consider those situations where the civil law might bring about a robust response to financial wrongdoing.

So, that’s it from me for now except to say that the podcast is available from the usual places, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iTunes, and others.

317 Episodes
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Welcome to episode 296 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, on sanctions, US authorities have announced coordinated designations targeting Iranian arms procurement, shadow fleet registries, and aviation support networks, while OFAC sanctioned targets tied to the Prince Group transnational criminal organisation and cyber scam networks. In fraud enforcement, reports from the United Nations and World Economic Forum highlighted the escalating threat of AI-driven financial fraud, US federal prosecutors have announced enforcement actions across California, Missouri, and Massachusetts, and three foreign nationals were indicted in New York in connection with a $129 million deepfake executive impersonation scheme. In money laundering and regulatory oversight, the Financial Action Task Force has published a landmark report calling for end-to-end disruption of illicit financial flows linked to scam compounds, while the UK Gambling Commission has unveiled a new data dashboard tracking illegal online gambling engagement and disruption. Finally, on cybercrime, French lender Crédit Mutuel Arkea reported an ongoing investigation into a cyberattack involving €100 million in fraudulent transaction thefts.A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial. The photograph on the podcast cover art is by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels, and the stinger sample between each news section is ‘Ben Logo 1’ by BenKirb from Pixabay.
Welcome to episode 295 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, on sanctions, there’s a joint statement announcing coordinated sanctions against North Korean cyber fraud, overseas labour, and military cooperation with Russia, the Court of Appeal has upheld HM Treasury's general licence amendments governing VTB Bank's UK subsidiary, and the UK FCDO has updated its sanctions listings to reflect UN Security Council amendments on Afghanistan as well as a Russia regime corporate correction. On fraud enforcement, an international law enforcement operation has dismantled a "crime-as-a-service" network, a former marine insurance claims handler is imprisoned for a payment diversion scheme, and US federal prosecutors have announced criminal enforcement actions in New Jersey, California, and Florida. On money laundering and regulatory oversight, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has removed Bulgaria, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Monaco from its grey list, while a US federal court has sentenced a Venezuelan national to 12 years in prison for laundering over $1 billion in illicit proceeds. Finally, in cybercrime, the FBI has attributed a $6 billion virtual asset theft from cryptocurrency exchange Binance to the state-sponsored North Korean hacking group TraderTraitor.A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial. The photograph on the podcast cover art is by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels, and the stinger sample between each news section is ‘Ben Logo 1’ by BenKirb from Pixabay.
Welcome to episode 294 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, on sanctions enforcement, the UK has extended its Lukoil Bulgaria licence, the US has targeted North Korean IT worker fraud networks and sanctioned Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence, and Czech manufacturer Ferrit s.r.o. has secured the country's first corporate non-prosecution settlement in a Russia sanctions evasion probe. On fraud prosecutions, there is a $177m tax scheme indictment, a sentence for COVID-19 relief fraud, charges under "Operation Ghostbusters" targeting a global student financial aid ring, and the release of the US Justice Department's Eighth Annual Elder Justice Report. In regulatory updates and AML oversight, UNODC and Malta’s FIAU partnered to pilot the goSENTINEL supervisory platform, while the UK Legal Services Board has authorised the SRA to issue unlimited fines for economic crime violations. And finally, former US Army and Postal Service officials have pleaded guilty in procurement steering and bribery schemes, and a Syrian national has been sentenced for a state-sponsored cyber intrusion campaign.A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial. The photograph on the podcast cover art is by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels, and the stinger sample between each news section is ‘Ben Logo 1’ by BenKirb from Pixabay.
Welcome to episode 293 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, on sanctions and export controls, the UK government has designated 15 Sudanese military commanders, proposed updates to strategic technology export control frameworks, refreshed OFSI's legal services general licence, and updated ISIL/Al-Qaida designations, while in the US, Extreme Networks has resolved enforcement actions over Russian defence exports, and the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has attracted criticism over a proposal to use cryptocurrency to bypass sanctions. Major fraud and corruption enforcement features federal indictments in a $135 million Medicare fraud, a $9.1 million licensing fraud, pandemic loan fraud prosecutions in the US and UK, and a guilty plea in a $3 million NCAA point-shaving ring. In regulatory and legal developments, the UK FCA has imposed restrictions on six Annex 1 lenders over anti-money laundering deficiencies, while a coalition of 21 state attorneys general sued FinCEN over its rollback of Corporate Transparency Act beneficial ownership reporting rules. Finally, in cybercrime, INTERPOL's Operation Serengeti III netted 1,462 arrests and recovered over $105 million across Africa, a former UK minister has indicated state involvement in the Jaguar Land Rover cyber-attack, and a Ukrainian ransomware affiliate has been sentenced to 70 months in federal prison.A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial. The photograph on the podcast cover art is by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels, and the stinger sample between each news section is ‘Ben Logo 1’ by BenKirb from Pixabay.
Welcome to episode 292 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, on enforcement and fraud actions there is a £307,690 confiscation order against a Birmingham accountant for pandemic support scheme fraud, the European Commission’s formal Digital Services Act proceedings against Booking.com regarding fraudulent property listings and ad transparency, and a guilty plea by New Jersey influencer Cesar Humberto Pina involving investment fraud, drug money laundering, and municipal bribery. On money laundering, the UKFIU SARs Annual Report 2025–2026 revealed a record £422.3 million in denied criminal assets alongside 896,414 SAR submissions, while the Solicitors Regulation Authority has issued updated guidance on firm-wide AML controls. Meanwhile, the UK FCA has banned and fined former Vector Wealth executives over £4 million in high-risk investment losses. Regulatory developments saw the FCA publish good practice guidance on AI adoption and FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi call for system-wide collaboration against digital market risks, alongside a UK Government consultation on whistleblowing framework reforms and a proposed SFO financial rewards scheme.A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial. The photograph on the podcast cover art is by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels, and the stinger sample between each news section is ‘Ben Logo 1’ by BenKirb from Pixabay.
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