The October 2025 investigation by The Sentry into Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) exposed a sophisticated business ecosystem that stretches from Darfur’s gold mines to company registers in Dubai. Far from being an informal smuggling chain, the network resembled a distributed corporate structure — populated by real directors, legitimate-looking licences, and adaptive ownership. It demonstrates how paramilitary power in the 2020s relies less on weapons or ideology, and more on access to global markets and the ability to conceal that access through data-visible intermediaries.

The past year has marked a turning point for corporate supply chain due diligence. Companies that fail to identify and act on forced labor or human rights risks are increasingly facing real costs.

Sanctions lists are one of the most common tools in compliance and due diligence. They flag people, companies, vessels, and states that governments or international bodies restrict. Checking names against these lists is often the first step in risk screening. But relying on them alone creates blind spots.

Illicit flows are not confined to shadowy corners of the global economy. They move through financial systems, supply chains, and markets every day , often hidden in plain sight. These flows — whether of money, minerals, labor, or weapons — undermine governance, and create serious risks for companies. Illicit flows thrive where evidence is weak. Without reliable, verifiable data, decisions on suppliers, partners, and deals carry hidden exposures that can translate into compliance failures, reputational damage, or financial loss.

Since Myanmar’s 2021 coup, the Thai–Myanmar frontier has morphed into one of the world’s densest clusters of industrial-scale cyber-fraud “compounds.” Run largely by Chinese-linked transnational syndicates and shielded by junta-aligned militias, these sites have doubled in number since the coup and now hold tens of thousands of trafficked workers.

Europe’s gas portfolios have been rewired since 2022. The International Energy Agency expects Europe’s LNG imports to hit a record in 2025 as pipeline flows from Russia keep shrinking, cementing LNG’s role in diversification strategies for the rest of the decade. Within this context, Africa appears as a valuable partner. Algeria is the continent’s largest natural-gas producer based on 2024 output, while Nigeria holds the biggest proven reserves. At the same time, Egypt, Senegal, Mauritania and Mozambique add flexible seaborne volumes that can swing between Atlantic and Asian basins.

Brazil is increasingly touted as a cornerstone of the global critical minerals trade. Long known for iron ore and niobium, the country is now seeking to expand its role in supplying the minerals that power the energy transition and high-tech industries, attracting international interest.

Russia remains under heavy sanctions from the U.S., EU, and other allies because of its invasion of Ukraine. These measures aim to cut Moscow off from the advanced technology and equipment it needs to sustain its defense and industrial base. Yet Russian companies continue to source critical goods by moving them through third countries.

In April 2025, Evidencity's Project Tantalus identified East Rise Corporation, a Hong Kong–registered trader, as part of a network linking a major refiner in Kazakhstan to dubious mining operations in the DRC & Rwanda. In August 2025, OFAC sanctioned East Rise, along with CDMC, a major local actor in tantalum mining.