Latvian state police on Wednesday seized from a Russian businessman 250,000 euro (US$290,000) worth of real estate as part of an ongoing investigation into a cross border money laundering scheme first uncovered by late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. 

A former regional councillor in the southern Italian region of Calabria was sentenced to five years in prison for having dealt with an entrepreneur affiliated with the local ‘Ndranghetta Mafia, the Italian state media agency ANSA reported.

U.S. authorities indicted on Monday 13 alleged leaders, members, and associates of a Chicago criminal organization, in a multi-faceted case that includes racketeering, the murder of more than a dozen rival gang members, and the use of violence in enforcing the city’s West Side illicit drug trade.

The alleged owner of a cannabis farm sued the Serbian investigative portal KRIK for calling him an “accused narco boss,” although the man is currently on trial for growing more than a tonne of the banned weed. Journalist associations said on Wednesday that the lawsuit is aimed to stop KRIK from reporting about the case.

U.S. authorities returned 248 pieces of looted art worth around US$15 million to India after most of the artifacts were seized from suspected art smuggler Subash Kapoor, who ran a gallery in New York, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office reported.

The U.S. financial authority announced the renewal of its regulations aimed at preventing money laundering in purchases of residential real estates.

Swiss authorities have charged ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA president Michel Platini with fraud over an “unlawful” payment of US$2.18 million sent by FIFA to Platini in early 2011.

Ukrainian and Swiss authorities arrested 12 individuals in an eight-country operation against a network of cybercriminals who have allegedly targeted over 1,800 victims across 71 states, Europol reported on Friday.

The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) is looking to seize 15 million pounds (US$20.5 million) in bank accounts that belong to the wife, son, and nephew of Javanshir Feyziyev, an influential Azerbaijani politician. The agency believes the money had been laundered through a vast money transfer system uncovered in 2017 by OCCRP.

Police in Australia, Europe and the U.S. arrested 150 suspected Darknet drug traffickers in a joint operation that lasted for 10 months, the Department of Justice reported last week.