OFAC hits 36 Iran aviation targets. OFSI fines Citibank London GBP 4.7m. Pierre Mirabaud convicted in Switzerland. Europol dismantles 'Dubai Bank' underground network.

On 8 September OFAC designated 36 targets, including 27 Iranian airlines and nine foreign entities located in Turkey, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, for supporting Iran's aviation sector. The action followed the 24 August 2026 sectoral determination against Iran's aviation industry and represents the first airline designations under that authority. Treasury said the aviation network is used to move weapons, personnel and illicit cargo, and named front companies and transshipment routes used to obtain US-origin aircraft and sensitive technology. FinCEN issued a parallel alert asking financial institutions to report procurement networks supporting Iran's aviation industry.

Sources: US Department of the Treasury / OFAC. Primary URL: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0623

On 4 September the UN Security Council 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee amended two entries by consensus, refreshing identifiers on the consolidated list. The consolidated list now stands at 252 individuals and 89 entities. The amendments do not add new names, but they change the identifiers that customer-screening engines match against, including any aliases, addresses and dates of birth carried in the narrative summaries and the sanctions XML.

Sources: UN Security Council Sanctions Committee 1267/1989/2253. Primary URL: https://press.un.org/en/2026/sc16446.doc.htm

OFSI announced a GBP 4.7 million settlement with Citibank N.A., London Branch for processing about 970 payments worth roughly GBP 19.7 million involving designated persons, controlled entities and designated Russian banks, including Alfa-Bank JSC, PJSC Gazprombank and Credit Bank of Moscow, between February 2022 and July 2025. The majority of breaches occurred between February and November 2022, in the months immediately after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. OFSI identified weaknesses in sanctions screening, payment processing and asset-freeze reporting, but found no evidence of deliberate evasion. The final penalty carries a 40 percent reduction reflecting voluntary self-report and settlement.

Sources: Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, HM Treasury. Primary URL: https://ofsi.blog.gov.uk/

On 9 September the DoJ Scam Center Strike Force, coordinating with OFAC, seized the infrastructure and cryptocurrency wallets of Xinbi Guarantee, a Chinese-language Telegram marketplace that laundered scam proceeds and supplied fake investment sites and scam-compound recruitment. The US District Court for DC authorised seizure of the platform's Telegram channels on 7 September. Two operating wallets holding approximately USD 12 million were taken, and restraint was sought on 47 additional wallets. Roughly USD 52 million was restrained on the day; the Scam Center Strike Force says it has restrained around USD 938 million to date. OFAC designated Xinbi Guarantee and two support entities the same day; teams deployed to Madagascar assisted authorities in taking down 13 Chinese-run scam compounds.

Sources: US Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office DC / OFAC. Primary URL: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/scam-center-strike-force-conducts-seizures-chinese-run-illicit-scammer-marketplace-and

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona convicted Pierre Mirabaud, the 77-year-old former president of the Swiss Bankers Association and former senior partner of the Mirabaud private bank, of corruption of foreign public officials and aggravated money laundering. He accepted a two-year suspended sentence on 8 September under a simplified procedure after admitting the facts, cooperating with the investigation and waiving the right to appeal. According to the indictment, Mirabaud arranged retrocessions of about CHF 82.3 million to the director-general of a Kuwaiti social-insurance institution between 2000 and 2012, in exchange for that institution placing assets and acquiring fund shares with the Mirabaud group.

Sources: Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland (TPF), Bellinzona. Primary URL: https://www.letemps.ch/economie/finance/82-millions-de-retrocommissions-l-ancien-associe-de-la-banque-mirabaud-accepte-deux-ans-de-prison-avec-sursis

The Spanish National Police, supported by Europol, dismantled a global underground banking network known as 'Dubai Bank' that financed drug-trafficking flows and laundered criminal proceeds worldwide. An action day on 22 July 2026 produced 15 arrests in Spain; a further six arrests followed on international warrants, four in the United Arab Emirates, one in Egypt and one in the Netherlands, taking the total to 21. Authorities identified, seized or froze roughly EUR 20 million in assets, including 48 properties valued at more than EUR 14 million, high-end vehicles worth over EUR 1.6 million and 121 bank accounts holding about EUR 2.3 million. The investigation began in February 2021 with the interception of the vessel Nehir off the Spanish coast, which carried 1,835 kg of cocaine. Europol publicised the operation on 8 September.

Sources: Europol / Spanish National Police (Policia Nacional). Primary URL: https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/drug-trafficking-investigation-leads-to-some-of-world-biggest-underground-bankers

FinCEN alert FIN-2026-Alert005, issued 3 September, analysed 33,904 BSA reports filed between 8 September 2023 and 31 December 2025 totalling approximately USD 12.7 billion of suspected digital-asset investment-scam activity, commonly termed pig-butchering, romance-baiting or cryptocurrency confidence schemes. FinCEN attributes the bulk of the activity to transnational criminal organisations running industrial-scale compounds in Southeast Asia and warned that the reported figure understates the true scope. The alert sets out red flags for detection and information sharing under section 314(b).

Sources: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Primary URL: https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-identifies-nearly-13-billion-linked-suspected-digital-asset-scams