Latest news with #moneylaundering
Associated Press
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
France's new prison regime for drug kingpins shines the spotlight on a possible successor to Macron
PARIS (AP) — They are France 's most dangerous drug kingpins, according to the country's justice minister — prison inmates so wealthy and powerful that even behind bars, they can continue to order assassinations, run narco-trafficking operations and launder money. Flexing his powers as minister in charge of the French penal system, Gérald Darmanin's solution to the problem is contentious. He is moving 100 inmates — men he describes as 'France's biggest criminals' — into an austere maximum security penitentiary in the country's north that critics say has echoes of tough U.S. prisons. The move is also possibly vote-catching for Darmanin, who has joined a growing field of possible successors to President Emmanuel Macron after the next election, less than two years away. Behind high walls and watch towers In the newly reinforced Vendin-le-Vieil prison, the selected inmates will be locked in individual cells for 23 hours on most days. Largely cut off from the world, Darmanin argues they will no longer be able to fuel drug-related violence, which has become a political issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election. 'We are here to guarantee that they don't speak to the outside, that they don't continue their trafficking outside, that they don't corrupt prison officers, magistrates, police officers and gendarmes,' Darmanin said on primetime evening television after the first 17 inmates were transferred this week to Vendin-le-Vieil from other, less secure facilities. France has had a long history of both notorious prisons (the Bastille) and prisoners — both real (Napoleon) and fictional ('The Count of Monte Cristo'). Still, Vendin-le-Vieil's lock-up conditions are exceptional, similar to the ultra-secure 'Supermax' prison in the United States and Italy's tough 'carcere duro' incarceration rules for Mafia members. Vendin-le-Vieil already houses some of France's most infamous prisoners — including Salah Abdeslam, lone survivor of a team of Islamic State extremists that terrorized Paris in 2015, killing 130 people in gun and bomb attacks. To make way for the specially selected 100 inmates — some already convicted, others in pre-trial detention — many other Vendin-le-Vieil inmates were moved out. The newcomers will be grouped together in the prison's new 'Section for Combatting Organized Crime,' with reinforced security and regulations, and equipped with systems to block mobile phone signals and drones. Among those on the list for Vendin-le-Vieil is Mohamed Amra, nicknamed 'The Fly,' who staged an escape last year that killed two guards and then fled to Romania before he was captured and returned to France. 'Extremely hard' conditions The newcomers will have just one hour a day in a prison exercise yard, in groups of no more than five. The rest of the time, they will mostly be confined to individual cells fitted with holes so prison guards can handcuff them before moving them and with ratchet systems so inmates can't yank the doors open or shut when they have to be unlocked. They will be guarded by 250 wardens — elsewhere, the ratio is usually 20 guards to 100 inmates, Darmanin told French broadcaster TF1. Instead of unlimited calls with family members from prison phones, they will be limited to a maximum of two hours, twice a week — a restriction that Darmanin says will make monitoring their conversations easier. Prison visiting rooms have also been equipped with security glass dividers, to prevent physical contact between inmates and visitors. Darmanin says this will prevent mobile phones and other contraband from being smuggled in. The new Vendin-le-Vieil inmates also won't have the rights accorded in other prisons of intimate time with partners and family members. Darmanin said the conditions will be 'extremely hard' but are necessary because France risks 'tipping into narco-banditry' in the absence of tough decisions. Mental health concerns Critics say Darmanin is taking a gamble by grouping together so many inmates he describes as dangerous. 'From what I know, even when they're placed under the strictest isolation, they're so smart that they always find ways to communicate with each other,' said May Sarah Vogelhut, an attorney for one of the 17 prisoners transferred this week. 'It's almost more like a networking club for billionaire narco-traffickers.' She and others also say the tough conditions could inflict an unacceptable toll on the prisoners' mental health. Vogelhut said her 22-year-old client was a major drug dealer in the southern French port city of Marseille and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years for torturing his victims. He is appealing his sentence. Held in isolation in another prison before his transfer to Vendin-le-Vieil, his biggest concern was the glass barrier that will prevent him from hugging his mother and touching other visitors, Vogelhut said. 'What shocks me the most in this new detention center is that the visits happen through a security glass intercom — you know, like what we French see in American movies, when the person is behind a glass and you talk through a phone,' she said. 'I find that inhumane. I mean, imagine that a guy spends 10 years there — for 10 years, he can't hug his mother?' she said. 'I think it's going to dehumanize them.' More high-security units planned First as a minister for public accounts, then as interior minister and since last December as justice minister, Darmanin has proven to be one of Macron's most loyal lieutenants. His close ties with the unpopular president, who can't run again, could work against Darmanin if he runs in 2027. But his government experience and tough-on-crime rhetoric could work in his favor with voters. Darmanin has announced plans for at least two other high-security prison units for convicted and accused drug traffickers, one of them in the overseas territory of French Guiana. Vogelhut accuses Darmanin of angling for votes and playing on 'French people's fears and anxieties.' 'It won't solve any problems,' she said. 'There won't be any less crime.'
Khaleej Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
UAE: Exchange house fined Dh800,000 for violating anti-money laundering laws
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has imposed a financial sanction of Dh800,000 on an exchange house operating within the country. The penalty was issued in accordance with Article (137) of Decretal Federal Law No. (14) of 2018 concerning the Central Bank and the Organisation of Financial Institutions and Activities, along with its subsequent amendments. The inancial sanction follows an examination conducted by the CBUAE, which uncovered that the exchange house had failed to comply with anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) policies and procedures. These regulatory shortcomings were deemed serious enough to warrant financial penalty. The CBUAE, through its supervisory and regulatory mandates, endeavours to ensure that all exchange houses, their owners, and staff comply the UAE laws, regulations and standards established by the CBUAE to maintain transparency and integrity of the exchange houses industry and safeguard the UAE financial ecosystem
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Notorious crime family member 'helped finance £20million tax fraud', court hears
A member of one of Britain's most notorious crime families has been accused of helping finance a £20million tax fraud. Tommy Adams, 67, became notorious for his role in controlling the Clerkenwell Syndicate alongside his brothers Terry, 70, and Patrick, 69. The gang operated through extortion, drug dealing and money laundering and was linked to at least 25 murders. It has now been revealed Tommy Adams was also allegedly involved in an international tax fraud by company directors and accountants. A trial at Southwark Crown Court heard there had been a meeting between white collar fraudsters at a hotel in Manchester in September 2013 - which HM Revenue & Customs investigators bugged. It was there that one of the fraudsters discussed having a four-hour conversation with Adams in London as other co-conspirators became increasingly nervous at upsetting the gangster. The trial heard Adams had allegedly been demanding £450,000 he was owed as part of the operation which made £20.8million in less than three years in total. Twenty ring members were convicted of money laundering or conspiracy to cheat the public revenue by inducing or facilitating the submission of false VAT returns between 2011 and 2014 in four trials that concluded on Monday last week. One fraud gang member - William Lindfield - was previously embroiled in a blackmail case featuring Paul Stretford, the agent for then-England footballer Wayne Rooney. Stretford and Rooney are pictured here together As part of a separate operation, Adams was convicted of money laundering in 2017 after undercover police set up listening devices in Andrews Restaurant in Holborn, central London. He was caught laundering nearly £250,000 from 'criminal activity' during which time he used runners to move cash from Manchester to London between 2012 and 2014. Adams was previously cleared of laundering some of the £26million of gold bullion stolen in the 1983 Brink's Mat raid - and he was not prosecuted over his alleged role. Financing for the £20million tax fraud operation in which Adams stands accused of being involved was provided by Warren Bartlett, 51, who invested £350,000. His company, Bartel Networks, was used to process £6.5million of the evaded VAT on £32million of orders. Bartlett, who lives in a £1.4million home registered in the name of his girlfriend in Ongar, Essex, recruited other businessmen to invest in the fraud, also using the discredited former police officer, Jerry Young, to produce a fake report for HMRC. Speaking at the trial, Judge Dafna Spiro said: 'The conspiracy was complex and highly sophisticated, involving numerous individuals, companies, strands and layers: some in plain sight and others hidden beneath a multitude of veils.' She explained Bartlett had been actively involved in recruiting others willing to invest up to $1million (£750,000), The Times reports. The judge added: 'The "investors" were effectively "priming the pump" to get the fraud running and to keep it turning over, and the returns on their investment would come from the stolen VAT.' Fraudsters used networks involving companies around the world including the UK, the US, the Czech Republic, Spain, Cyprus, Canada, Vietnam, Hong Kong and the Seychelles. They centred their operations around a company called Winnington Networks Ltd, based in Crewe, Cheshire. It submitted 18 VAT returns, in which more than £20million owed to HMRC was not paid. The fraud was carried out through dishonestly offsetting VAT paid on fake purchases of 'voice over internet protocol' technology against tax the company would otherwise have paid on electrical and metal dealing. Masterminds behind the operation were John Fenton, 66, and Neil Pursell, 60, the owners and directors of Winnington. Both have been jailed for nine years. The fraud was openly discussed at secret meetings in hotels where conspirators told of how they could just 'invent the numbers' to falsely offset their output VAT claims. One fraud gang member - William Lindfield - was previously embroiled in a blackmail case featuring Tommy Adams, Paul Stretford - the agent for then-England footballer Wayne Rooney - and Kenny Dalglish, the former Scotland and former Liverpool player and manager. Stretford attended a meeting with associates of the rival agent to discuss Rooney's contracts, Warrington crown court was told in 2005. Adams, who had recently finished a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for drug smuggling was present at meetings at the Novotel near Euston, central London, and Le Meridien Hotel at Heathrow Airport in November 2002. Lindfield has claimed Adams was invited by Dalglish, director of football operations at Stretford's Proactive Sports Management agency.
BBC News
4 days ago
- BBC News
Four arrested as police raid Birmingham gambling den
Four men have been arrested after police raided a gambling den in searched the premises on Ladywell Walk on Sunday morning and seized two gaming machines believed to be linked to fraud and money also found large amounts of cash, as well as drugs and weapons, West Midlands Police men, aged 56 and 32, were arrested on suspicion of money laundering while another two, aged 43 and 20, were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences. A police spokesperson said all four remained in custody for raid was carried out as part of Operation Fearless, which was launched to target issues including violence, drug dealing, anti-social behaviour and organised crime. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Independent
17-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Job hunters £5k out of pocket after falling prey to social media scam
Lloyds Bank has reported a 237 per cent surge in "advanced fee" job scams this year, warning job hunters of significant financial losses and potential criminal records. Victims typically lose £1,420, with some out of pocket by over £5,000, and young job seekers aged 18 to 34 are disproportionately targeted. These scams often originate on social media, luring victims with fake remote work offers like liking TikTok videos, then demanding upfront payments for purported necessities such as processing or training. More sophisticated schemes involve fake interviews, contracts, and impersonating genuine recruitment agencies, sometimes manipulating victims into unwitting money laundering. Lloyds advises job seekers to be wary of any requests for payment to apply for a job and to independently research the role and company being presented.
