The recent arrival of a team of 24 FBI agents in Cyprus marks a critical step in the global enforcement of sanctions against Russian oligarchs and their enablers. This move underscores the island’s evolution into a significant financial center, attracting substantial Russian money and technology entrepreneurs from Israel. The agents are set to assist Cypriot police in unraveling the complex web of financial transactions and support provided to sanctioned Russians by local professionals.
Audits performed by international accounting firms are becoming progressively more defective, posing a threat to investors' decision-making capabilities. A U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) report revealed that approximately 40% of the audits they reviewed in 2022 were so deficient that the auditing firms lacked adequate evidence to support their opinion on clients' financial statements or financial reporting.
Tether Holdings Ltd, the disputed issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin Tether (USDT), retained BDO Italia, the Italian arm of the world's fifth largest accounting firm, to issue assurance and attestation reports of its reserves. Tether has previously worked with two Cayman Islands-based accounting firms, Moore Cayman and MHA Cayman. In 2021, Tether settled with the New York Attorney General's office with an $18.5 million an investigation into the company's practices.
We have discovered Solarisbank as a payment processor in major broker scams such as Daxiron or BitCenter. Up until today, large cybercrime organizations use Solarisbank as scam-facilitating payment processors. Scam victims reported that they have transferred sometimes large sums to bank accounts of the scammers at Solarisbank. German BaFin informed Solarisbank that it is now being under scrutiny by a special auditor due to serious compliance and money laundering issues.