Financial Sanctions – European Sanctions Enforcement

January 19, 2026January 19, 2026 by Mark Handley

Portugal – prosecution brought against football club for receiving payment from sanctioned Russian club

It is being reported (and here behind a paywall) that Portuguese football club Casa Pia, and the clb’s executive manager, are being prosecuted by Portugal’s Public Prosecutor’s Office for an alleged breach of the EU’s sanctions.

The allegation is that the club received €1.5 million from the Russian football club FC Akhmat in payment for a player transfer.

FC Akhmat is said to be owned by Ramzan Kadyrov, who is a designated person under the EU’s sanctions.

Reports also state that the indictment includes accusations of forgery and money laundering as part of deceiving the club’s bank as to the origin of the funds.

January 12, 2026January 12, 2026 by Mark Handley

Romania – enforcement of travel ban on person designated under EU’s Global Human Rights sanctions

An individual included in the EU’s Global Human Rights sanctions list has been barred from entering Romania and deported.

The press reporting does not name the sanctioned individual, but the reporting indicates the person to have been an Israeli settler.

January 8, 2026January 8, 2026 by Mark Handley

Luxembourg – CSSF fines bank €185,000 including for sanctions compliance failings

Luxembourg’s financial services regulator, the CSSF, has issued a fine against Rakuten Bank SA for various compliance failings including sanctions and AML.

One of the failings identified was “accumulated significant and recurring delays in processing alerts relating to customer screening against list of persons subject to restrictive measures in financial matters”. The Notice identified a particular example of a customer subject to anti-terrorism sanctions where the review of the alert took more than six months.

Another failing identified was a failure to “apply ‘without delay’ potential restrictive measures in financial matters”.

January 2, 2026January 2, 2026 by Mark Handley

Italy – raids and arrests as part of Hamas fundraising investigation

The Guardia di Finanza and Police in Italy have arrested nine people and seized over €8m in assets as part of an investigation into fundraising on behalf of sanctioned group Hamas.

The Guardia di Finanza press release is here.

The investigation was supported by Eurojust and authorities in the Netherlands.

As part of the investigation premises have been searched in Genoa, Milan, Rome, Turin, Bologna, Bergamo, Florence, Monza Brianza, Lodi and Sassuolo, with cash of €1,080,000 seized.

It is alleged that various front organizations raised funds, not for charitable or humanitarian purposes, but to support the military operations of Hamas.

January 2, 2026January 2, 2026 by Mark Handley

Germany – €10 million payment to settle sanctions investigation into Usmanov

Prosecutors in Germany have settled their investigation and prosecution of Alisher Usmanov for suspected breaches of EU sanctions.

The settlement involves a payment of €10 million but no admission of liability.

The investigation related to allegations of payments made by or on behalf Usmanov, a designated person, in relation the provision of security for two properties in Germany.

December 23, 2025December 23, 2025 by Mark Handley

Latvia – raids and arrest for alleged sanctions breaches

It is being reported that Latvia’s State Security Service conducted a number of raids, and arrested an individual suspected of breaching the EU’s sanctions against Russia.

It is being reported that the individual is Viktors Guščins, who is alleged to have provided an economic resource to a designated person in the form of publications and propaganda material.

December 23, 2025December 23, 2025 by Mark Handley

France – Lafarge sanctions trial ends with verdict due in April 2026

After a six-week trial, verdict in the Lafarge prosecution is now expected on 13 April 2026.

The Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office is seeking a fine of €1.125 million, as well as a fine of €4.57 million that is directly related to the alleged breaches of EU sanctions.

The prosecution is also seeking lengthy jail terms for the eight individual defendants of between 18 months and 8 years, including 6 years for the former CEO, as well as a €225,000 fine and a 10-year ban on serving in any management position in a company.

December 16, 2025December 16, 2025 by Mark Handley

Germany – report that there are 6,000 criminal proceedings for Russian and Belarus sanctions breaches ongoing

It is being reported in an article published in trans.info that the German authorities currently have approximately 6000 criminal proceedings for sanctions offences that are ongoing.

This number is said to be specific to the EU’s Russian and Belarusian sanctions regimes.

No further information is provided on the status of the cases.

December 8, 2025December 8, 2025 by Mark Handley

United Kingdom – Gambling Commission fine of £825,000 including for sanctions screening failures

The UK’s Gambling Commission has fined Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Limited, trading as Betfred £825,000.

While much of the fine relates to player welfare and AML issues, it is being reported that part of the fine relates to the lack of an “effective policy for identifying and handling customers who might be subject to financial sanctions”.

This is not the first fine by the Gambling Commission related to sanctions compliance, as two other operators were fined in April 2024.

November 28, 2025November 28, 2025 by Mark Handley

Finland – regulator’s audit findings on Nordea Bank’s sanctions compliance

Finland’s Financial Supervisory Authority has published the results of an “audit” on Nordea Bank in relation to the bank’s compliance with the asset freeze and export prohibition aspects of the EU’s Russian sanctions.

The result of the audit was a finding of a “very significant lack of information obtained and retained by the bank”, with a lack of updating on the information that was obtained. In addition, “shortcomings of great significance” were found in relation to customer due diligence, and a lack of adequate assessment of the risk of sanctions circumvention including payments that involved “a high risk country from the perspective of sanctions evasion”.

The announcement from the FIN-FSA does not indicate whether any further regulatory action will be taken.

My thanks to Louis Vargas of the Network for Financial Crime Prevention for informing on this published audit.