Via Rabobank,

A combo of confidence, arrogance, and ignorance has seen continued TACO trades on tariffs:

Trump always chickens out, say those who just watched him bomb Iran’s nuclear sites with vastly fatter tail risks than a spike in CPI (the fear of which overlooking Japanese car-markers just cut prices 19.4% to keep access to the US market). 

But did that just get burrito-ed?

True, the Vietnamese government still hasn’t formally accepted the trade deal announced, showing how unhappy they are with 20% tariffs. Yet Trump just dropped a bomb in stating he plans to impose rates of 15% or 20% on most trading partners, not 10%.

He also dropped a 35% tariff on non-USMCA compliant goods from Canada starting 1 August with any counter tariff rate stacked on top: no transshipped goods from Canada will be allowed. Can you see what was flagged here months ago: that the US would set the level of the USMCA external tariff, forming a Fortress North America?

A similar Trump letter could go out to the EU today: will it say 10%, 15%, 20%, or 35%, and will everyone continue to buy EUR on the back of it “because markets”? Perhaps: but, what a croque, monsieur or madame. There’s no ham in that toasted sandwich if you open it up and look.

That’s as Politico claims it was “BRICS-fuelled anger” around de-dollarisation behind the recent 50% tariff threat to Brazil, as I’d flagged: “The White House concluded that non-tariff methods for punishing Brazil would take too long, two people familiar with the situation said.” Brazil’s President Lula has threatened counter tariffs and said he isn’t obliged to use the dollar for trade: is he referring to the BRICScoin that doesn’t exist, or to barter, or to gold, or CNY? Somebody will be eating humble taco ahead there – place your trading bets accordingly.

However, other reports have the US lifting tariffs on Israel ahead: geopolitics sets your rate. 

Staying in geoeconomics, a US metals magnate praised “intelligent” national security tariffs on copper and dismissed any market reaction as “irrelevant.” Who knew markets come second when America comes first? Those who saw we are in a world of economic statecraft, not policy.

Similarly, US rare earths firm MP Materials announced a “Transformational public-private partnership” with the Pentagon worth billions including a new “10X” magnet facility, a 10-year price floor and offtake agreements, and the Department of Defence positioned to become its largest shareholder to create “a national champion, built to scale.” What and where next?

Bloomberg today runs a rebuttal of US tariffs aimed at local shipbuilding, but makes the argument this needs integrated economic statecraft from tariffs to subsidies to infrastructure to labour –as do copper, steel, and aluminium, required as inputs– as well as a push to compete globally for economies of scale. So, either bank on that happening for national security reasons, or on no maritime national security and “because markets.” There are huge implications either way.

Moreover, as the latest projections show we are apparently very far from peak global oil and gas demand, OPEC+ just barred major media organisations from their meeting.

In geopolitics, Secretary of State Rubio called for a new approach to peace re: Ukraine; Trump said there could be “a major statement” on Russia Monday; Axios reports the US is to sell weapons to NATO to provide to Ukraine; and the UK and France will “police Ukraine’s skies“ and seas if Russia agrees to a ceasefire. That sounds expensive, with fat tail risks: so, TACO?

Reports suggest Israel could soon strike Iran again as the latter scuttles about its nuclear sites with intent. Jerusalem is also urging the US to resume strikes on the Houthis and form a broad coalition, after two commercial ships were sunk this week, impacting far more than Israel alone.

Moreover, as The Economist calls to end the west’s failed asylum system (when you’ve lost The Economist…), there’s more entente cordiale via a UK-French “one in, one out” asylum-seeker pilot scheme which will swap one who crosses the Channel for one from France who can show they have family connections in the UK – but, according to some reports, only up to 50 people a week, and in any case not reducing the total number of asylum-seekers in both countries.

In politics, a US judge placed a new block on Trump’s birthright citizenship order by claiming a class action weeks after the Supreme Court had blocked the use of far-reaching district court injunctions against the executive, and Justice Alito had specifically warned not to use spurious class actions to end-run it. This week also saw a lower-level judge try to overrule Congress, worth considering as the financial press worries about executive over-reach: everyone is.

Staying with the law, Trump said of FBI investigations into ex-CIA head Brennan and ex-FBI head Comey over suggestions of faking the evidence re: Russiagate: “Maybe they have to pay a price.” That’s as former Epstein lawyer Dershowitz raised his hand to God and swore he knows that documents are being suppressed to protect individuals pertaining to this scandal, and he knows who is doing the suppressing.

California Governor Newsom’s team signalled he may redistrict ahead of the critical 2026 midterms if Texas does the same to gain GOP seats – except California has an independent redistricting commission; four Republican senators threatened to reverse President Trump’s DOGE cuts to funding for NPR and PBS, seeing him threaten to refuse to support them; and Axios states ‘MAGA on “amnesty watch” as Trump weighs migrant worker protections’ as the base wants no watering down of promises to deport millions, regardless of the economic consequences.

Not to leave Europe out, Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate banned any member of an extremist organisation –which they say covers the AfD Party leading opinion polls– for working for the civil service or police, etc. Coming just after a French police raid on the populist National Rally HQ, one wonders if that will get slipped into the Trump letter to the EU, as with Brazil.

In markets, there was excitement about a potential Chinese property bailout yesterday: yet that was as The People’s Daily argued for reintroducing “comrade” as title and pronoun rather than “Boss”, “Miss”, or “Teacher”; or “Leveraged Wall Street trader thinking a housing bubble is common prosperity” – in either China or the US?

The White House continued its new front vs Fed Chair Powell, with the director of the OMB also attacking him for the “ostentatious” $2.5bn refurbishment of the Fed’s HQ as the FT’s Big Read asks, ‘Can the Fed stay independent under Trump?’, overlooking that it hasn’t been for a large chunk of its existence, and critics question how independent of lobbyists it can ever be. 

That FT report includes the line that even the janitor knows who the worst Fed chair was: the 70’s Burns, who looked through massive commodity-driven headline inflation to please politicians. Fair enough, but who was the second worst: Greenspan, Bernanke, or Yellen?

Lastly, and this time not a multi-tasking typo, Bitcoin this morning is sitting at a record $116,500, with the S&P and Nasdaq also at all-time highs. 

Who thinks they need to chicken out of what from here?

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with President Trump at the White House on Thursday, just days before a trip to China. The meeting comes as Nvidia—now the world’s most valuable chipmaker (and world’s most valuable company)—remains largely shut out of China’s semiconductor market due to U.S. export restrictions. While the conversation wasn’t disclosed, Huang likely focused on the urgent need to restore Nvidia’s ability to sell advanced AI chips in the world’s second-largest economy.

CNBC’s Megan Cassella reported Thursday afternoon that Huang met with Trump. No details about the meeting were released, but the president praised Nvidia in a Truth Social post:

“NVIDIA IS UP 47% SINCE TRUMP TARIFFS. USA is taking in Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs”… “COUNTRY IS NOW ‘BACK.'”

Also on Thursday, Nvidia became the first company to close a trading day with a market cap over $4 trillion… This was a symbolic milestone for capital markets and the current bull cycle.

In a separate report, Bloomberg noted that Huang’s White House visit comes just days before he is scheduled to travel to Beijing, where he will meet with senior Chinese officials and attend the International Supply Chain Expo. 

Huang has been vocal in recent months about the combined impact of the Biden-Harris regime and the Trump-Vance administration’s export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China. In May, he told investors, “The $50 billion China market is effectively closed to U.S. industry.”

However, the Trump team cancelled a planned rule by former President Joe Biden called the “AI diffusion rule,” promising fewer restrictions later this year on which countries could receive Nvidia’s advanced AI chips.

“The world is right now hungry, anxious to engage AI,” Huang said, adding, “Let us get the American AI out in front of everybody right now.”

The Houthis have clearly been ramping up their attacks on Israeli interests and assets out of Yemen, and on Thursday another ballistic missile strike on Tel Aviv was attempted.

Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, shortly after conducting airstrikes on Houthi targets. The Iran-aligned group later confirmed responsibility for the launch, calling it a “qualitative military operation” involving a ballistic missile.

As a result, multiple alert sirens were active across Israel during the dawn hours. All of this comes after the Houthis attacked and sank two commercial vessels bound for Israel, in complex operations which they boasted of and captured on film.

Israel is now reportedly formally asking the United States to renew its military strikes on the Iran-backed group, according to Kan public broadcaster..

Israel told the US that the attacks on shipping “can no longer remain solely an Israeli problem,” and called for “more intense combined attacks against Houthi regime targets — not just [Israeli] air force fighter jet strikes, but also a renewal of American attacks and the formation of a coalition including additional countries.”

“A broad coalition is needed to convey to the Houthi regime that it is in danger,” an anonymous Israeli defense official told Kan.

At the moment, the Houthis are still actively targeting Tel Aviv international airport, along with any vessel in the Red Sea bound for Israel. Ben Gurion airport has been directly hit at least once during the conflict.

President Trump had in May declared a US ceasefire with the Houthis, to the chagrin of Israel, which stepped up its own aerial attacks on Yemen.

#Houthis in #Yemen claim missile attack targeting #Israel

Yemen’s Houthi militant group said on Thursday they had attacked Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv area with a ballistic missile, while the Israeli military said the missile from Yemen was intercepted after air… pic.twitter.com/3LCcf3jQna

— YemenOnline (@YemenOnlineinfo) July 10, 2025

Trump, perhaps realizing the futility of the US bombing raids – amid Houthi resolve – essentially declared ‘victory’ and departed the war theatre. Many war analysts believe that the Houthis cannot ultimately be defeated short of a full, comprehensive ground operation.

Authored by Addison Graham via RealClearPolitics,

The X-rated social media platform OnlyFans is experiencing real growth, with revenue, content, and user numbers all on the rise. The site’s over 4 million “creators” sell content – including images, videos, and personalized chats – to more than 300 million subscribers, or “fans.” It’s primarily a sex site, and claims that the platform isn’t powered by porn are usually accompanied by winks and nods to the contrary.

OnlyFans keeps a 20% cut of what users pay, boasting $1.3 billion of revenue in 2023. It’s a lucrative approach to monetizing porn consumption, but the platform just hit a legal roadblock in a seemingly unlikely country.

Sweden, which in 1971 became the second country in the world to formally legalize all forms of pornography, has not been as soft on prostitution. In 1999, the country criminalized the purchase of sex, but not the sale, in efforts to protect vulnerable women from facing stiff legal consequences.

That policy will now apply to the virtual world. As of July 1, Swedes could face up to a year in prison for paying someone for personalized online sexual services, including sexting and video content. The new law also criminalizes promoting or profiting from others who perform sex acts for payment on demand, forcing OnlyFans to pull out of Sweden.

In a country known for libertines more than prudes, the law passed with broad, cross-party support. “The idea is that anyone who buys sexual acts performed remotely should be penalized in the same way as those who buy sexual acts involving physical contact,” said Gunnar Strommer, Sweden’s Justice Minister and a member of the Moderate party.

The U.S. has drawn a harder line on in-person prostitution than Sweden. Excluding certain counties in Nevada, it is illegal to both buy and sell sex in America. But OnlyFans – which exploded in the U.S. during the pandemic – remains legal in all 50 states, allowing Fenix International Limited, the London-based firm that owns OnlyFans, to profit from the sale of millions of sext messages and live video chats.

A growing number of bipartisan lawmakers are citing concerns about the role of social media in online sex trafficking. Some are calling out OnlyFans by name.

“Americans are being sexually exploited on OnlyFans,” said U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a Missouri Republican. “Congress and federal law enforcement must do more.”

In 2018, Wagner sponsored the FOSTA-SESTA Act, which Donald Trump signed into law. The bill gave federal and state prosecutors more authority to go after websites on which sex is sold, even holding platforms and Internet service providers responsible for user-generated ads related to sex work. But the FOSTA-SESTA Act mostly targets traffickers who use the internet as a recruitment or facilitating tool, whereas Sweden’s law prohibits the purchase of virtual prostitution (that is, paying for sex from sex workers who provide their services in the virtual space) as well as profiting from virtual prostitution.

With Trump back in office, Wagner and like-minded lawmakers appear eager to enact stricter regulations. If Sweden’s new law were replicated in the U.S., OnlyFans’ earnings would plummet. Roughly a quarter of the site’s content creators are American women, and nearly two-thirds of the platform’s revenue is generated in the U.S., according to the most recent data. 

Many sex workers say that criminalizing online prostitution is illogical because it will only result in women working in more dangerous in-person settings. A number of human rights organizations also argue that prostitution should be legalized because it grants sex workers greater access to legal protection and healthcare while also helping law enforcement better differentiate between the consenting and the coerced.

Some European governments agree, including Belgium, which last December granted sex workers formal labor rights, entitling them to sick leave, maternity pay, and pensions. Some are unionizing, and many more are opting to ditch the brothel scene and work from home.

As for trafficking, OnlyFans argues that they have invested in AI tools and ID verification systems to ensure that only of-age, consenting adults are participating on the site. It is true that OnlyFans has invested more into such measures than most other social media platforms or porn sites. But despite these filters, there are still reports of abuse and trafficking occurring on the site, which OnlyFans says is the result of only a few bad apples.

Many industry advocates say that lawmakers seeking to regulate the online sex trade are simply anti-porn religious zealots. But few U.S. lawmakers are signing on with Utah Senator Mike Lee, who is currently on his third attempt since 2022 to ban pornography nationwide. Rather, most speak of the issue in terms of the need to curb trafficking – mirroring the narrative of many Swedish lawmakers.

Sanna Backeskog, a Swedish politician and proponent of the recent law, insists she has no interest in being the porn police. She said, “This is about digitalized prostitution, where the boundaries between pornography and human trafficking are blurred.”

As lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe seek to clarify those blurred boundaries, some say Sweden is on the right track, that regulations will curb demand, and trafficking will go down. Others say the law will only make things worse as more prostitutes revert to doing their work in the dark.

The appetite for online sexual interactions is growing, and OnlyFans is reportedly on sale for $8 billion. The platform’s current owners hope that nations (especially the U.S.) won’t mimic Sweden’s recent law. After all, how else would OnlyFans continue to flourish in such a hot market?

Via Remix news,

Using the “Poland method,” the European Union elite played a pivotal role in toppling the conservative Polish government by freezing billions in EU funds. Once Donald Tusk came to power, the money began flowing again.

Now, the same method is set to be used against Hungary in the run-up to national elections next year.

The European Commission published its 2025 Rule of Law Report on Tuesday, before which European Commissioner for Justice Michael McGrath told RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland that they are concerned about the situation in Hungary and are ready to use all means available to force Hungary to fall in line.

What does that mean in practice? Withholding billions in cohesion funds from Hungary, and possibly much more in the future.

“As far as Hungary is concerned, the Commission remains seriously concerned about the rule of law situation,” the EU justice commissioner said before the report was published, as cited by the Mandiner news portal. 

McGrath noted that various tools were at Brussels’ disposal to take action, from freezing EU funds to referring the case to the European Court of Justice. The rule of law, he said, “means justice instead of arbitrariness, and trust instead of fear.” He said he refused to allow it to be deemed some form of “abstract value.”

The EC’s report targets the Hungarian judiciary, which they say is compromised by political influence, and Hungary’s case allocation and appointment system, which they deem insufficiently transparent. They considered that progress had been made in terms of corruption, but they found the anti-corruption institutions, including the Integrity Authority, insufficiently effective. 

The EU also claims that the allocation of public funds and EU funds is not transparent.

The document makes note of the fact that Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks Hungary as the “most corrupt country” in the EU.

TI has long been funded in part by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. As Remix News has reported in the past, the organization is highly partisan, and often ranks Hungary on par with corruption as war-torn African countries.

Regarding domestic media, it is claimed that “state advertising distorts the market” and that opposition media is marginalized. No mention of countries like Germany, where media outlets are raided by police, including the publisher and journalists, and then completely erased from the internet, only for courts to later say the entire action was illegal.

Moreover, the room for civil society organizations to maneuver has narrowed, it reads, and oversight of the executive branch is lacking.

In addition to the report on 2024, the document also reports on the consultation with civil society organizations in 2025. Based on the reports of the NGOs, they write about the shortcomings of the institutional system for preventing corruption and the weakening of independent institutions.

Given its findings and what it believes to be a worsening situation in Hungary, the EU will continue to withhold some €6.3 billion in cohesion funds.

“Stakeholders note that the distribution of public funding continues to be uneven, untransparent, privileging government-aligned organizations against CSOs critical of government policies, which are not able to secure public funding in Hungary. Overall, no progress has been made on the recommendation and the situation has instead further deteriorated.”

The Commission’s report was prepared based on the report of a five-member delegation, the LIBE committee, who had visited Hungary. Mandiner has called out the credibility of the report, partly due to those in the delegation. The Green Party’s Tineke Strik, whom the Center for Fundamental Rights called “a real hard-line globalist,” is one member of the delegation, alongside left-wing and liberal politicians, including Michał Wawrykiewicz from the European People’s Party, who gave a speech at a Tisza Party event and is a big supporter of opposition leader Péter Magyar.

The LIBE committee’s visit has been criticized, as the delegation met primarily with opposition media outlets and organizations and also because no video or audio recording was allowed during a meeting with Hungary’s Office for the Protection of Sovereignty. The action prevented  “Hungarian and European citizens from getting a credible and accurate picture of the conceptual procedure being conducted by Brussels against Hungary,” according to the Hungary’s Office for the Protection of Sovereignty.

In response to the report, Hungary’s Nézőpont Institute has come out with its own report, calling on Brussels to abide by the rule of law as well. It highlighted four main areas of particular concern when it comes to EU institutions: unchecked corruption, persistent conflicts of interest, opaque funding practices regarding NGOs, and the entrenched double standards applied by various EU bodies. 

Read more here…

Two US officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity have confirmed the resumption of arms and ammo deliveries to Ukraine’s military which include 155 mm artillery shells and GMLRS precision-guided rockets.

Last week’s ordered pause affected a specific shipment and was reportedly initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to review US weapons inventory levels amid fears of dwindling American stockpiles.

The Ukrainians too appear to have confirmed receipt of the paused shipments, and have said they are ‘impressed’ with Trump’s decision-making.

But interestingly, the White House has acted surprised that the pause was ever given:

During a meeting of his Cabinet on Tuesday, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sitting next to him, Trump said he didn’t know who signed off on the weapons pause.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” Trump told a reporter who asked who ordered the pause.

Trump also repeated he was “very unhappy” with Putin and said he was looking into sanctions on Russia as a consequence.

And on Wednesday the president was questioned by a reporter as follows:

“Yesterday, you said that you were not sure who ordered the munitions halted to Ukraine. Have you since been able to figure that out?” a reporter asked the president.

“Well, I haven’t thought about it, because we’re looking at Ukraine right now and munitions, but I have, no I have not gone into it,” he said.

The reporter followed up by asking, “What does it say that such a big decision could be made inside your government without you knowing?”

“I would know if a decision was made, I will know,” Trump stressed. “I’ll be the first to know. In fact, most likely I’d give the order, but I haven’t done that yet.”

Such obfuscation could be the result of rising anger among Trump’s base concerning the policy U-turn. Trump voters have wondered how keeping up the flow of massive monetary and defense aid to Ukraine is ‘America first’.

Trump on Ukraine: “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to.” There’s been no comprehensive “halt” or “freeze” of US arms supplies, as had been erroneously reported over the past week. Trump has never opposed arming Ukraine! After all, he’s the one who started doing it! pic.twitter.com/4f88FX8zvk

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) July 8, 2025

This is especially as Trump had earlier swiped at Zelensky over the aid, calling him the “world’s greatest salesman”. But more recently Trump has expressed frustration at lack of peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev getting off the ground.

Via The Cradle

Turkish authorities have detained more than 500 members and officials of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) since October 2024 in an intensifying crackdown that has exclusively targeted municipalities held by the secularist party, according to a Reuters review of legal filings and state disclosures published on Thursday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defended the campaign as an effort to dismantle a corrupt “octopus” network with arms stretching “to other parts of Turkiye and abroad.”

His office has not responded to requests for comment on accusations of political interference or selective prosecution.

The probe initially focused on Istanbul but has since spread to CHP-run cities including Izmir, Adana, Antalya, and Adiyaman – territories seized from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in last year’s municipal elections. 

More than 220 individuals have been imprisoned or placed under house arrest, with 202 detained in the past week alone.

Among those jailed is Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul and Erdogan’s leading political rival, who was arrested in March on corruption charges he denies. 

A 121-page police transcript reviewed by Reuters alleges that Imamoglu’s phone repeatedly connected to the same cell tower as individuals accused of bribery, to which he responded that his home was located nearby. Prosecutors have yet to issue indictments.

Lawyers and party officials say the arrests lack a legal foundation. Mehmet Pehlivan, Imamoglu’s lawyer, who was also jailed, said the probe attempts “for the first time to criminalize the right to practice law.”

Former AKP minister Ertugrul Gunay described the campaign as a “tool for political attrition,” warning it reflects panic within Erdogan’s camp over future elections. CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel called it “a coup against Ataturk’s party,” prompting a separate investigation against him for allegedly insulting the president.

Three CHP mayors – Zeydan Karalar of Adana, Muhittin Bocek of Antalya, and Abdurrahman Tutdere of Adiyaman – were arrested on 5 July in what the party described as a “political operation.” Their arrests followed the detention of over 120 individuals in Izmir.

Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas responded on X, saying, “In a system where the law is bent and twisted according to politics … no one should expect us to trust the rule of law or believe in justice.”

It has now become the norm for hundreds of drones to be exchanged each night across borders between Russia and Ukraine. In the overnight and into Thursday morning hours, Russia once again sent some 400 drones into Ukraine. The attack also included close to 20 ballistic and cruise missiles.

CNN and others, who have correspondents on the ground, have witnessed a ‘new tactic’ in the war. Russia sent drones on the Ukrainian capital “flying from all directions” – in yet another effective effort at confusing and breaking past anti-air defenses.

“Russia has been intensifying its aerial attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, but the assault on Thursday appeared to mark a change in approach from Moscow,” CNN notes, before adding:

They were flying at different altitudes, and attacking from all directions — with some of the drones initially bypassing the capital before abruptly changing direction and speeding back towards the city.

Still, Ukraine’s military says it was able to shootdown or disable 382 of the 415 aerial weapons Russia launched overnight.

Local authorities said a 22-year-old female police officer was killed in these latest Russian attacks, along with one other person, and over a dozen more people were wounded.

“This is an obvious build-up of terror by Russia,” President Zelensky said on Thursday, while issuing another plea for the United States and the Western allies to provide more air defense systems and missiles.

Clearly, the two warring sides are further away from direct peace negotiations than ever before. The US appears to have somewhat stepped back, content to let the war drag on, after President Trump has expressed deep frustration.

But Washington is still apparently working on the bilateral relationship with Moscow, as top diplomats from both sides held a “frank exchange” during talks in Malaysia on Thursday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers’ summit.

Reports say US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a “new idea” on resolving the war to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Zelensky reported that last night the Russian Armed Forces launched 18 missiles and around 200 “Gerans” (drones) at Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian military bloggers note that if such trends continue, frontline cities like Sloviansk and Kramatorsk may become safer than Kyiv.
-… pic.twitter.com/4NTO9TytoP

— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) July 10, 2025

“It’s not a new approach. It’s a new idea or a new concept that I’ll take back to the president to discuss,” Rubio said. He underscored was not something that “automatically leads to peace, but it could potentially open the door to a path.”

But if it’s anything less than Kiev making territorial concessions, the Kremlin is unlikely to be interested, also as it keeps making slow but steady gains in the east.

By Thomas Brooke of Remix News

A German court has sentenced an immigration officer to prison for accepting bribes in exchange for issuing fraudulent residence and citizenship documents.

As reported by Bild, the Lüneburg Regional Court ruled on Tuesday that the officer from the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony illegally issued permanent residence permits, settlement papers, and naturalizations to foreigners in at least 16 cases between January 2022 and July 2023, in return for cash payments.

Among those who obtained papers were individuals from Turkey, Georgia, Albania, and several Arab countries. Many had presented forged residence documents from other EU states, such as Greece, when applying for legal status in Germany. In some cases, requirements such as language proficiency certificates were waived.

The court found that the official became known for his ability to process cases “without complications,” a reputation that spread across the country, according to a district councilor. He was consequently jailed for six and a half years.

The scheme involved a co-defendant, 32-year-old Kastriot G., who knew the official from a local football club. He acted as an intermediary, arranging “customer orders” for the fraudulent documents. Kastriot G. was sentenced to nine years in prison, with his term including a previous conviction for kidnapping for ransom.

The court stated that both men had received around €154,000 from their dealings, which they are now required to repay in full. Both defendants partially admitted the charges, though they did not fully confess.

“They were only interested in the money; they wanted to split the proceeds equally,” said presiding judge Christoph Paglotke, according to the German press agency dpa.

The verdict is not yet final and can still be appealed.

Illegal immigration means big money for some, and fraudulent activity has been known to occur in several European member states.

In February, Spanish police uncovered a criminal network arranging sham marriages between Spanish women and foreign men seeking residency. Three people, including a lawyer, were arrested for their involvement in the scheme, which charged around €10,000 per client.

Continue reading on Remix news