Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva was charged late Wednesday with money laundering and tax misrepresentation, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said, and prosecutors want him arrested, according to the Guardian.

The Washington, DC medical examiner said that Mikhail Lesin, the founder of Russia Today (RT) and close aide of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, “died of blunt force trauma to the head,” reported the Washington Post.  

Russia is often criticized as a major source of international money laundering but its Central Bank’s official figures suggest it’s starting to get on top of the problem, based on US State Department reports.

Latvia’s financial regulator has fined the Baltic International Bank (BIB) € 1.1 million (US$ 1.2 million) due to repeated violations of laws regarding money laundering, terrorist financing and customer due diligence, a news release by the regulator said today.

Switzerland and Nigeria have agreed to work towards return of assets worth US$ 321 million stolen from Nigeria by its former dictator Sani Abacha, a Swiss Federal Council news release said Tuesday. 

Authorities turned away activists and journalists attempting to visit imprisoned OCCRP partner Khadija Ismayilova on Monday, according to Voice of America (VoA).

Romania’s highest court has approved an 18-month extradition to the US for hacker Marcel Lehel Lazar, also known as Guccifer, Reuters reported Friday.

The Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK) said Thursday that the European Central Bank (ECB) has revoked Trasta Komercbanka’s license effective immediately.

Brazil’s Supreme Court voted unanimously yesterday to allow corruption charges to proceed against Eduardo Cunha, Brazil’s Lower House speaker, who is accused of taking millions in bribes.

А Bulgarian crime group is accused of orchestrating the theft of AU$ 387,000 (US$ 285,523) from Australian ATMs, according to The Age, a publication based in Victoria and cited by Bulgarian media.