Suspicious accounts continued to operate on Binance even after the world’s largest exchange agreed to stricter AML controls as part of a 2023 settlement with the U.S., according to a report in the Financial Times. In November 2023, Binance settled with FinCEN and OFAC for sanctions violations and violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, agreeing to pay a total penalty of $4.368 billion.

Sweden’s financial watchdog has closed its long-running investigation into Alecta’s loss-making investments into three US niche banks, which tipped the pension fund into crisis in 2023, saying it found no breach of the rules, IPE.com reported. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen, FI) announced this morning: “The investigation has not shown any violations of the rules in the risk management system Alecta has had for assessing investment risks.

Canada and the U.S. will launch formal discussions to review their free trade agreement in mid-January, the office of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said, the Associated Press reported. The prime minister confirmed to provincial leaders that Dominic LeBlanc, the country’s point person for U.S-Canada trade relations, “will meet with U.S. counterparts in mid-January to launch formal discussions," Carney’s office said in a statement late Thursday. The United States-Mexico-Canada trade pact, or USMCA, is up for review in 2026. U.S.

Lured by the promise of richer margins, a wave of Chinese consumer brands is making deeper inroads into American retail to offset sluggish spending at home, Reuters reported. Throughout 2025, companies including Labubu-maker Pop Mart trinket purveyor Miniso sportswear giant Anta and fast‑fashion label Urban Revivo have announced new U.S. stores or retail expansions, trying to establish a foothold in the world’s richest consumer market despite harsh U.S. tariffs and talk of economic decoupling.

The U.S. Trade Representative on Wednesday announced the implementation of tariff-related ​elements in a trade agreement framework reached ‌with Switzerland and Liechtenstein in November, Reuters reported. The tariff rates announced on ‌November 14 will be retroactive to that date, according to a post in the Federal Register. The notice amends the U.S. tariff schedule to apply either ⁠the most-favored-nation tariff ‌rate or a 15% rate, whichever is higher, to goods from the two ‍countries.

The decade-plus American bankruptcy of property developer Sean Dunne took a major step toward final resolution on Tuesday, after a U.S. judge allowed payments to his two ex-wives, the Irish Times reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Julie A. Manning approved, pending the filing of revised paperwork, more than $2.8 million in payments to Mr Dunne’s two ex-wives. She added she would also rule by Friday on distribution of the remainder of the more than $16 million in the estate.

A fund run by life sciences venture firm Apple Tree Partners filed for bankruptcy months after alleging that its Russian billionaire backer, Dmitry Rybolovlev, hasn’t met financing commitments because of liquidity problems at his family office, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. New York-based Apple Tree Life Sciences filed for chapter 11 reorganization Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., with assets of more than $1 billion and liabilities of less than $500,000.

Do Kwon, a crypto entrepreneur who created two virtual currencies that spectacularly melted down, prompting a market crisis in 2022, was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday, the New York Times reported. Kwon became a cautionary tale of crypto hubris when the digital currencies he designed — TerraUSD and Luna — lost all their value practically overnight. The crash caused a chain reaction that led to the collapse of a string of major crypto companies. Mr.

Do Kwon, the South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur behind two digital currencies that lost an estimated $40 billion in 2022, is set to be sentenced in New York federal court on Thursday for fraud and conspiracy, Reuters reported. Kwon, 34, who co-founded Singapore-based Terraform Labs and developed the TerraUSD and Luna currencies, previously pleaded guilty and admitted to misleading investors about a coin that was supposed to maintain a steady price during periods of crypto market volatility.

President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 5% tariff on imports from Mexico if the country did not release water that his administration says must be allowed to flow under a treaty, escalating a fight with a major trading partner, Bloomberg News reported. “I have authorized documentation to impose a 5% Tariff on Mexico if this water isn’t released, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump posted Monday on social media. “The longer Mexico takes to release the water, the more our Farmers are hurt.