Financial Crime Weekly Episode 292

Welcome to episode 292 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, on enforcement and fraud actions there is a £307,690 confiscation order against a Birmingham accountant for pandemic support scheme fraud, the European Commission’s formal Digital Services Act proceedings against Booking.com regarding fraudulent property listings and ad transparency, and a guilty plea by New Jersey influencer Cesar Humberto Pina involving investment fraud, drug money laundering, and municipal bribery. On money laundering, the UKFIU SARs Annual Report 2025–2026 revealed a record £422.3 million in denied criminal assets alongside 896,414 SAR submissions, while the Solicitors Regulation Authority has issued updated guidance on firm-wide AML controls. Meanwhile, the UK FCA has banned and fined former Vector Wealth executives over £4 million in high-risk investment losses. Regulatory developments saw the FCA publish good practice guidance on AI adoption and FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi call for system-wide collaboration against digital market risks, alongside a UK Government consultation on whistleblowing framework reforms and a proposed SFO financial rewards scheme.

A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial.

The photograph on the podcast cover art is by Sora Shimazaki at Pexels, and the stinger sample between each news section is ‘Ben Logo 1’ by BenKirb from Pixabay.