Episode 274

21st August – 23rd August 2026

Sanctions

UK Government Aligns Sanctions List with UN Amendments Targeting ISIL and Al-Qaeda Associates

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has updated the UK Sanctions List to vary the designations of 13 individuals and eight entities under the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaeda regime. This regulatory alignment directly reflects amendments enacted on 18th August 2026, by the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee under resolutions 1267, 1989, and 2253. The 21 total variations update critical biographical and identification details for figures and groups subject to asset freezes, travel bans, and arms embargoes. Key updates include revised data for Jemaah Islamiyah senior leader Nurjaman Isamuddin Riduan (also known as Hambali), Abu Sayyaf Group member Salim Y Salamuddin Julkipli, and entities such as the Wafa Humanitarian Organisation and the Afghan Support Committee.

US Government Imposes Sanctions on Cuban Regime Officials and Hizballah Cash Smuggling Network

The US government has announced new economic sanctions targeting political and financial networks in Cuba and the Middle East. The US Department of State has designated three leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), including its president and former convicted spy Fernando González Llort, along with nine state entities, including the Ministry of Construction of Cuba, under Executive Order 14404 for their roles in supporting the Cuban regime's security and repressive state apparatus. Concurrently, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated ten individuals operating a financial network which smuggled up to hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to Hizballah. Led by Turkish businessman Yunus Alper Yilmaz, the network utilised commercial airline couriers traveling between Lebanon, Türkiye, the UAE, and Iran to bypass the formal banking system. As part of this action, the Treasury also formally re-designated Hizballah under Executive Order 13224, as amended, for being owned, controlled, or directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).

International Criminal Court Condemns New US Sanctions Against President and Senior Trial Lawyer

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has formally rejected and deplored the US administration's announcement of new sanctions designations targeting the President of the Court, Japanese Judge Tomoko Akane, and Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal. Describing the measures as a "flagrant attack" on its judicial independence, the ICC stated that the sanctions undermine the rule of law and place the international legal order at risk by threatening judicial actors for applying the law. According to the Court, these latest designations bring the total number of US-sanctioned ICC personnel to nine of its eighteen judges, both deputy prosecutors, the former prosecutor, and one staff member. Despite these coercive measures, the ICC declared that it remains undeterred and will continue independently to discharge its mandate under the Rome Statute with the support of its States Parties and civil society partners.

Money Laundering

QuinnBet to Pay £609,104 Over Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Failures Following Gambling Commission Review

The UK Gambling Commission has announced that online gambling operator QuinnBet (Gibraltar) Limited will pay £609,104 as part of a regulatory settlement to resolve anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing compliance failures spanning March 2023 to August 2025. The Commission's investigation revealed that the operator lacked adequate policies, procedures, and controls, specifically failing to act in a timely manner to mitigate risks posed by customers displaying disproportionate spending. Regulatory findings indicated that QuinnBet allowed some customers to deposit significant sums without establishing their Source of Funds (SoF), at times over-relying on customer Source of Wealth declarations or assuming without verification that winnings were being recycled. Furthermore, the operator was found to have insufficient internal controls to ensure that Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) were submitted to authorities as soon as practicable after a threshold of suspicion was reached. The financial settlement, which includes £193,118 in disgorged funds destined for the UK Government’s Consolidated Fund, was agreed upon after QuinnBet implemented an action plan to address the deficiencies and fully cooperated with the regulatory review.

Market Abuse

Senior HEICO Executive Charged in New York Federal Court over Alleged $1.8 Million Insider Trading Scheme

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has unsealed an indictment charging Jesus Luis Morell, a senior executive at HEICO Corporation, with three counts of securities fraud arising from an alleged insider trading scheme. Prosecutors allege that Morell used his position as the president of two HEICO subsidiaries and a board member of a third to access material, non-public quarterly financial forecasts in 2022 and 2025. Despite certifying annually that he would abide by the company's insider trading policies, Morell allegedly purchased HEICO Class A common stock ahead of public earnings announcements and quickly sold them afterward for a profit, generating over $1.8 million in illicit gains. Morell faces up to 20 to 25 years in prison per count if convicted, and remains presumed innocent of the charges.

Other Financial Crime

FCA Issues Bans and Fine Issued against two individuals

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced enforcement action against two former financial sector executives for serious integrity and management failures. First, the regulator has permanently banned Howard Roland Duckett, a former senior manager of debt management firm Beauforce Corporation Limited, after he failed to disclose a prior 10-year High Court director disqualification and reportedly fabricated evidence, including inventing a fictitious business manager, to mislead authorities. Secondly, the FCA has imposed a £56,400 fine and a senior management ban against Demetrios Hadjigeorgiou, the former CEO of now-dissolved SVS Securities plc. The FCA established that Hadjigeorgiou failed properly to protect customer interests by investing client pension savings in high-risk products while SVS received payments from the issuers, and by failing to challenge an undisclosed 10% reduction on customer bond sales which generated £359,800 for SVS at the clients' expense.

APRA Targets Cyber Threats, Sanctions Readiness, and Digital Payment Risks in 2026-27 Corporate Plan

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published its 2026-27 Corporate Plan, highlighting a heightened regulatory focus on cyber security, sanctions compliance, and digital payment frameworks. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the regulator expects to increase its supervisory intensity to ensure banks, insurers, and superannuation trustees reinforce their operational resilience against sophisticated AI-enabled cyber threats and concentrated third-party dependencies under Prudential Standard CPS 230. APRA will also subject larger, systemically important financial institutions to intensive supervision and targeted readiness assessments to evaluate their preparedness for complex geopolitical risk scenarios, including sanctions, trade disruptions, and political vulnerabilities. Furthermore, to manage risks arising from technological innovation, APRA is preparing to introduce a new prudential framework for large stored-value facility providers, including issuers of Australian dollar stablecoins, while collaborating with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to streamline accountability maps and notification requirements under the Financial Accountability Regime.

UKFIU and Regulators Propose New Guidance to Reduce Duplicative Fraud Victim SAR Filings

The UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU), in collaboration with the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Banking SARs Working Group, have introduced a new proposal in Issue 37 of its SARs in Action magazine aimed at streamlining financial crime reporting. Under the updated guidance, when a bank customer falls victim to fraud, the victim's financial institution (Entity A) may, based on its own risk appetite, elect not to file a duplicate Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) once it has notified the receiving institution of the fraudulent transfer. Instead, the perpetrator's financial institution (Entity B) is designated to submit the primary SAR, as it holds more direct, actionable intelligence regarding the account receiving the illicit funds. Formally ratified by the System Prioritisation Governance Group (SPGG), this shift is designed to help both the public and private sectors conserve resources by eliminating duplicative reporting of the same fraudulent events.

Cybercrime

UK NCSC Publishes Interim Security Guidance to Manage the Cyber Risks of Agentic AI

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has published a blog post outlining interim guidelines to help organisations securely deploy and manage the cyber security risks of increasingly autonomous, "agentic" artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Written by NCSC Principal Security Architect Toby W, the post explains that while agentic AI offers significant productivity gains by automating complex workflows, its capability to operate with high autonomy creates critical vulnerabilities if the system malfunctions, acts outside its intended scope, or accesses restricted information. To mitigate these issues, the NCSC advises system designers and operators to evaluate how much autonomy is actually needed, utilise multi-layered technical and operational controls rather than relying solely on built-in model safeguards, and conduct thorough threat modelling. Key recommended security measures include isolating AI agents within robust sandbox environments to restrict network and credential access, maintaining active human oversight, logging and auditing AI activity in immutable records, and retaining the ability to "pull the plug" through an immediate emergency shutdown. The NCSC is currently collaborating with external partners to research and develop formal guidance which will eventually supersede this interim advice.