Sanctions Updates: Russia

Feb 26, 2022. (3:31 a.m. CET) SWIFT Preparing to Comply With Russian Measures  “We are engaging with European authorities to understand the details of the entities that will be subject to the new measures,” the organization said in an email. “We are preparing to comply upon legal instruction.” Feb 26, 2022. (2:12 a.m. CET) Elon Musk Activates Starlink Satellites for…

Global Russia Sanctions Update

A number of states and international actors have unveiled further sanctions measures on Russia in relation to its activities in or in relation to Ukraine. In a previous post, we outlined the initial measures imposed by the US and UK on Russia in relation to its recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk. We consider below the further actions taken by the…

Governments ill-Informed on how to Inject Covid-19 Vaccine

Why are governments not requiring this safety precaution, which is easy to implement and has been shown in peer reviewed studies to defend against life-threatening repercussions? The precaution is known as ‘aspiration’ and consists in drawing back on the plunger once the needle has been inserted to see if any blood returns into the syringe, also clearly explained here by…

CIA Still Spying on Americans Despite Legal Ban

The CIA is still carrying out its own bulk surveillance program in the United States despite a legal ban on the agency carrying out domestic operations.

Credit Suisse Leak: Suisse Secrets

An anonymous whistleblower leaked a scandalous trove of banking data to a German Newspaper. 48 media companies from all over the world analyzed the contents of the Suisse Secrets data leak and the findings show that instead of conducting the required due diligence in screening potential clients, Credit Suisse accepted clients who are known to be “corrupt autocrats, suspected war criminals, human traffickers, drug dealers and other criminals.”1

A human trafficker convicted in the Philippines and an Egyptian murderer are also included in the data, as are cardinals allegedly involved in shady dealings and the former Siemens manager Eduard Seidel, who was convicted of bribery in 2008.

GiveSendGo Donor Leak: Police, Business Leaders Contributed

Gizmodo reached out to several of the people who are listed as top donors, asking them to confirm their donations, including a person with the name Thomas Siebel who donated $90,000, according to the leaked data. (Thomas Siebel is the name of an American software billionaire.)
One donor listed on the data set confirmed that he donated to the campaign. Brad Howland, who was listed as giving US$75,000 said in a written statement Monday that he supports the convoy. Howland is president of Easy-Kleen Pressure Systems in Sussex Corner, N.B. “We are thankful to be blessed enough to support their efforts to do what they have to do in a peaceful way until the government removes the mandates to restore all our freedom as pre-COVID,” he said.

RGE – Sukanto Tanoto et al.

Indonesian Paper and Palm Oil Tycoon Secretly Bought Historic Munich Building for 350 Million Euros.
Tanoto’s companies have been accused of causing widespread deforestation in Indonesia, human rights abuses, and a plethora of questionable profit-shifting practices that have deprived Indonesia of hundreds of millions in tax revenues.
Tanoto’s son, Andre, also bought an iconic building in Düsseldorf for a little under 50 million euros at around the same time, using a similar secret Luxembourg corporate structure.

INVESTAR, SFGP and other Montreal Cos Linked to Serafino Oliverio

INVESTAR, SFGP and other Montreal Real Estate Companies related to Serafino Oliverio, AKA Sergio Lopez, “considered by police to be the leader of the Montreal Mafia.”

Hong Kong: Arrests under Security Law, a serious concern

The human rights lawyer, who was arrested on 8 September, was a member of the Hong Kong Alliance, an advocacy group which organized an annual candlelight vigil marking the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square.

Several other activists have been similarly arrested and charged under the National Security Law.

The law came into force at the end of June last year, giving Chinese central authorities greater power and control over all aspects of life in Hong Kong.

“Terrorism and sedition charges are being improperly used to stifle the exercise of fundamental rights, which are protected under international law, including freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to participate in public affairs”, the Special Rapporteurs said, urging authorities to refrain from the using the National Security Law and to reconsider its application.

Trump campaign & admin officials indicted on federal criminal charges

Named: Tom Barrack, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Donald Trump

China’s New Law on Countering Foreign Sanctions

On 10 June 2021, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee of the People’s Republic of China passed the Law of the PRC on Countering Foreign Sanctions (the “Anti-Sanctions Law”). The Anti-Sanctions Law establishes a legal regime for the protection of Chinese individuals and entities from what are deemed to be discriminatory foreign sanctions and for implementing countermeasures against such sanctions. Although…

New UK corruption based sanctions regime to be at the forefront of British foreign policy

On 16 March 2021 the UK published its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy titled “Global Britain in a competitive age”, which sets out the UK government’s overarching national security and international policy objectives through to 2025. The Review contains a number of references to the UK’s post Brexit sanctions regime and places the UK’s autonomous sanctions…

Coming soon. Worth the wait.

Investigations, Probes

New records show DHS are buying & using cell phone location data

The ACLU published thousands of pages of previously unreleased records showing that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are sidestepping the constitutional right against unreasonable government search and seizure.  DHS has been buying access to and using large volumes of cell phone location information that has been “quietly extracted from smartphone apps” of U.S. citizens and others — using their…

Ukraine’s Constitutional Crisis

Ukrainians’ distrust of the courts is higher than of any other government body. The Kyiv District Administrative Court has become the epitome of injustice and corruption in Ukraine.

Opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma: Criminal and Civil Investigations

Today, the Department of Justice announced a global resolution of its criminal and civil investigations into the opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma LP (Purdue), and a civil resolution of its civil investigation into individual shareholders from the Sackler family.  The resolutions with Purdue are subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court. “The abuse and diversion of prescription opioids has contributed…