As money laundering scandals make headlines and public anger mounts about the massive amounts of unexplained cash flowing into European nations and banks, governments will go one of two directions: court the world’s ultra-wealthy, or make life more difficult for them.

The European Commission has moved to include 15 additional countries in its expanded list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, which will tighten controls on financial transactions between those nations and the European Union.

Britain’s anti-money laundering regulations are not enforced by accountancy and legal associations due to fear it would lose them members, a watchdog report revealed on Tuesday.

The leader of a multi-billion dollar scheme involving the sale of fraudulent crypto-currency OneCoin, was arrested on Friday at Los Angeles International Airport, according to a US Justice Department press release.

Law enforcement and customs authorities from 16 European countries dismantled a massive network trafficking in medicines, arresting 435 suspects and seizing goods worth US$185 million in a Europol-coordinated operation known as “MISMED 2,” the organization announced in a press release on Friday.

The Kremlin dismissed on Monday allegations that the Troika Laundromat channelled billions of dollars out of Russia, claiming the revelations contain nothing new.

Members of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, announced a proposal to ban the use of pangolin products, the world’s most trafficked animal, in traditional Chinese medicine.

The Russian telecommunications firms found to have engaged in bribery and money laundering in Uzbekistan, on Thursday reached a US$850 million settlement with the US Justice Department while the daughter of late president Islam Karimov was nevertheless charged for her part in the decade-long, international bribery scheme.

Hundreds of billions of pounds are potentially laundered through the UK each year as prevention efforts remain "highly fragmented," a committee of MPs warned on Friday.

A week after the publishing of the Troika Laundromat investigation sent shockwaves through Europe, implicating major Western banks, Prince Charles, Putin’s childhood friend, and US$4.6 billion of dirty Russian money, European bank shares tumbled, authorities launched investigations and officials split over whether more actions should be taken.