#Anti-bribery and corruption:

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot under investigation for misappropriation of public funds

Following a 2021 report from the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation targeting Philippe Tabarot, current French Minister of Transport, for “misappropriation of public funds”, “illegal taking of interest” and concealment of these offenses. The investigation concerns acts allegedly committed while he held positions within the tourism and cultural public interest group and then within the communication department of Le Cannet commune between 2018 and 2020. The minister defended his management, claiming that he had nothing to reproach himself for and that his remuneration was transparent.

Although the public interest group is deemed to be a deficit-earning structure, Philippe Tabarot is said to have received more than 100,000 euros for his functions within this structure, in addition to his remuneration as communications officer and vice-president in charge of transport for the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. > Read article

#Interpol Procedure:

INTERPOL publishes first Silver Notice targeting criminal assets

INTERPOL has published its first “Silver Notice”, to trace and seize criminal assets as part of the fight against transnational organized crime. The notice, initiated by Italy, concerns assets linked to a “senior member of the mafia”. INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza stressed the importance of depriving criminals of their profits to disrupt their criminal networks.

Fifty-two countries are involved in the “pilot phase” of Silver Notices until November 2025. These notices enable Member States to issue alerts and request information on assets related to criminal activities, in order to facilitate the identification, location and collection of information of assets derived from money laundering, such as real estate, vehicles, bank accounts or companies.

Silver Notices are sent to all INTERPOL States Parties, while they can be broadcast to specific countries. Beforehand, the General Secretariat checks each notice to ensure that it complies with the Organization’s rules, and to prevent them from being “used for political purposes”.  > Read article

#Ethics and compliance:

Extra-financial reporting: major French groups defend the CSRD directive

Despite Germany’s desire to postpone the entry into force of the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), major French groups are taking a stand in favor of this legislation. They emphasize its crucial role for European competitiveness and sustainability, while calling on the European Commission to respect its timetable and not to delay the directive’s implementation.

While France is making progress in implementing the directive, with reports already finalized or in the process of being validated, Germany has still not transposed CSRD into its national legislation, despite the deadline having already passed. France’s College of Sustainable Development Directors (C3D) argues for gradual adoption without altering the text and even proposes bringing forward the application of the directive to non-European companies within two years. It considers that any delay or softening of these measures would be detrimental to Europe’s competitiveness on a global basis. > Read article

#White collar crime:

The downfall of Dark Bank, the organized crime “banker” who allegedly helped launder over €1 billion

French judicial authorities dismantled a vast cryptocurrency money-laundering network, led by a “broker” called “Dark Bank”, who operated worldwide via the Sky ECC encrypted messaging service. This network laundered funds generated by drug trafficking and cyberattacks through an exchange of cash for crypto assets and vice versa. Between 2019 and 2021, nearly €1 billion is said to have flowed through accounts attached to “Dark Bank”.

The investigation, opened on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking, revealed that “Dark Bank” was an American citizen, Huzefa Hafiz Ismail, arrested in August 2024 in the USA, whose extradition has been requested by France. Investigators also identified other suspects, such as Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national arrested in Nice in October 2023, who collected cash for the network. > Read article

#Dispute resolution & regulatory investigations:

SEC: the American market regulator hits hard at the beginning of the year

On Monday 13 January 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued financial penalties amounting to 108 million dollars against 13 financial entities. The US financial services company Robinhood was fined 45 million dollars for deficiencies in its anti-money laundering system, as well as for anomalies in the disclosure of its activities and delays in reporting potentially illicit activities. The twelve other financial groups include KKR, Blackstone and Apollo, which were sanctioned for allowing their employees to use unofficial electronic communication channels. The current interim director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, Sanjay Wadhwa, said “When firms fall short of those obligations, the consequences go far beyond deficient document productions; such failures implicate the transparency and the integrity of the markets and their participants”. > Read article