January 19 - South Korean customs investigators have disrupted an international money laundering network that allegedly processed 148.9 billion won ($101.7 million) using cryptocurrency and the domestic banking system. The Korea Customs Service (KCS) said Monday that it has referred three individuals to prosecutors for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, Yonhap news agency reported.

January 19 - The 41-year-old head of an illegal crypto exchange will serve five years in jail after using Tether’s USDT, a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, to launder $1m for a voice phishing ring. A branch of the Daegu District Court in South Korea also jailed one of the exchange’s employees, aged 35, for two years and eight months.

January 19 - A group of bipartisan senators has raised concerns about a provision in Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott’s crypto bill. The provision, which exempts certain blockchain software developers from financial licensing requirements, could hinder law enforcement’s ability to tackle money laundering and other illicit financial crimes. Senators Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin, along with other Judiciary leaders, have warned that this provision needs further scrutiny.

January 17 - The US Department of Justice has charged a man for allegedly laundering $1 billion in criminal funds, using USDT on the Tron blockchain to help him do so. Feds said in a statement that Venezuelan national Jorge Figueira, 59, allegedly made the transactions in “a scale of criminal conduct that poses a profound threat to financial systems and public safety.”

January 14 - The cocaine market exploded between 2014 and 2023. Production in Colombia increased more than sevenfold to nearly 2,700 tonnes, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Behind the scenes, drug traffickers find equally illicit ways to pay their suppliers and foot soldiers, or to spend the proceeds of their criminal trade. Their solution? Money laundering. It is estimated that 25% of the funds collected is laundered.