Keeping exotic pets, such as reptiles and amphibians, has become increasingly popular over the past two decades but the trend has spawned an enormous illegal trade, the New York Times reported Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor has begun investigating the wealth of princes, top officials and businessmen who were detained during the kingdom’s anti-corruption purge last year, Al Sharq Al Awsat reported on Sunday.

Authorities have seized 100 suburban homes in Northern California that were allegedly used by the Chinese mafia to grow cannabis for black market distribution on the East Coast, the Epoch Times reported on Monday.

The net worth of Oleg Deripaska, one of the oligarchs targeted by Friday’s U.S. sanctions, fell by US$1.1 billion, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Two New York mafia figures pleaded guilty to trafficking the addictive opioid Oxycodone and forcing a Brooklyn doctor to forge prescriptions, the New York Daily News reported on Friday.

Moscow’s deteriorating relationship with the West and stricter checks of money origins in the UK have forced many rich Russian emigrants to consider returning to their homeland.

Arms trafficking, organized crime and smuggling millions in cash – the U.S. Treasury Department painted a grim picture of Russian government and business when they explained the latest sanctions during an announcement on Friday, NPR reported.

Corruption charges against former head of French energy conglomerate Areva in regards to a corporate acquisition have also revealed potential illicit payments made to a Namibian mining company and the country’s president.

Guatemala sentenced nine businessmen convicted of paying bribes for public contracts to pay for the construction of several roads and a school as part of their punishment.

Authorities in Bahrain have found evidence of a Persian Gulf bank’s multibillion dollar corruption scheme that allowed Iran to avoid sanctions for eleven years, according to The Washington Post.