-
Sanctions and trade controls
FinCEN moves against the A7 Network.
On October 1 FinCEN issued an alert and a proposed rule that would bar every covered US institution, crypto exchanges included, from sending or receiving funds involving the network’s sub-agents, a Russia-based payments system Iran uses to evade sanctions. TRM Labs puts sub-agent dollar volume above $17 billion from January 2025 to June 2026. The sub-agent list is confidential and shared only through secure portals, so a public-list screen will not catch it. Ask the screening vendor how they get it.
-
Sanctions and trade controls
OFAC adds seven crypto addresses in a Tren de Aragua case.
On September 30 OFAC designated 10 people, including an FBI Ten Most Wanted fugitive, for ATM malware heists worth $40.73 million across more than 1,500 attacks, with proceeds moved through stablecoins. The addresses are exchange deposit addresses, so a screen that lags the SDN list by a day is a gap.
-
Payments
Three state crypto-kiosk laws took effect October 1.
Hawaii now bars kiosks from taking US dollars for crypto, by cash or card. Alabama HB 303 adds transaction limits, ID checks and refunds. Maryland SB 741 pulls software-based operators into registration. States treat kiosk cash as the scam on-ramp, and that is where money-transmission rules are heading.
-
Cargo
Thieves took an Nvidia-branded trailer and got 20,000 pounds of sand.
Fortune reported October 1 that two PlusAI trailers were stolen overnight from a Fremont, California lot. Overhaul has tracked $150 million in AI-hardware cargo losses and a 34 percent rise in AI-related theft since 2024. Crews pick targets by what the outside says. Nothing in custody should be readable from the dock.
-
Cargo
“Laundering freight.”
TAPA Americas chair Scott Cornell told FreightWaves on September 30 that organized groups re-paper stolen loads and push them back into legitimate commerce; one headphone theft surfaced in Europe within a week. His fix is a digital bill of lading with an audit trail. That is the case for a signed release record, made by the industry itself.
-
Crypto
Bitget theft pinned on North Korea; September the worst month of the year.
Chainalysis said October 1 it attributes the $387 million September 24 Bitget hack to North Korea. PeckShield counts 55 incidents and $766.49 million lost in September. Bitget has frozen $1.1 million. Freezes after the fact recover almost nothing. The decision has to happen before the transaction moves.
-
Sanctions and trade controls
OFAC’s Iran action hits goods, not just money.
The October 1 round designated 32 entities in automotive, rail, steel and trading across China, Hong Kong, the UAE, Turkey and Germany. Worth a re-screen of counterparties in those sectors.
-
Payments
Payments and consumer fraud.
The FTC’s September 24 request for comment on extending the impersonation rule to platform ad tools is still open and cites $3.5 billion in imposter-scam losses in 2025.
Ask the screening vendor how it receives FinCEN’s confidential A7 sub-agent list, and note that the FTC impersonation-rule comment window closes 60 days after Federal Register publication.
The Brief is part of every membership, with a weekly method note. Engagements, memberships and invoices are BSJ Ventures LLC’s.
Ask about membership