Good morning. The U.S. said it seized millions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets and a fake website purporting to sell protective gear in an operation targeting the financial underpinnings of three terrorist groups. The coordinated law-enforcement action targets the donation networks of al Qaeda and the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, as well as a scheme to sell N95 respirator masks to U.S. health-care providers by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The action comes as the U.S. Treasury Department and other federal agencies consider new regulations for the cryptocurrency industry meant to counter terror financing and money laundering and that could mean exchanges and other companies would face steep fines if their platforms are used for illicit finance.

[Continued below…]

The Justice Department Thursday unsealed three civil asset-forfeiture complaints in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which officials said represented the seizure of about 300 cryptocurrency wallets holding about $2 million in assets. Authorities also blacklisted several millions of dollars in other virtual currency assets identified in the investigation that weren’t immediately obtainable, officials said.

The operation, the largest ever seizure of terrorist organizations’ cryptocurrency accounts, officials said, shows the extent to which terrorist groups have come to rely on cybertools such as virtual currencies to solicit donations to fund their operations.

• The Trump administration has for the first time confiscated vessels allegedly loaded with Iran fuel in violation of sanctions, U.S. officials said, as it steps up its campaign of maximum pressure against Tehran. U.S. federal prosecutors had filed suit last month to seize the four tankers of gasoline that Iran was sending to Venezuela, the latest move in the administration’s effort to stifle flows of goods and money helping to keep two of its top foes in power.
   
• A U.S. importer has been fined $575,000 for importing powdered food sweetener that was made by prison labor in China, in violation of federal trade laws, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday. The fine against Pure Circle U.S.A. Inc. of Chicago, a PureCircle Ltd. affiliate, marked the first fine CBP officials have issued since the agency stepped up investigations of suspected forced labor in China in the past five years.
   
• China’s iQiyi Inc., a Netflix-like video-streaming company, said it was under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The admission comes amid heightened scrutiny of accounting at U.S.-listed Chinese companies, and four months after an investment-research firm Wolfpack Research queried iQiyi’s user numbers, sales, expenses and a sizable 2018 takeover.
   
• The Environmental Protection Agency plans to use new methane rules to help set a higher bar for regulating other emissions that contribute to climate change, according to people familiar with the situation and an excerpt of the new rule. The rules will rescind regulations for methane-gas emissions adopted in 2016, including ending requirements that oil-and-gas producers have procedures to detect and fix methane leaks in their systems.
   
• German investigators are asking the public to help them find Jan Marsalek, the elusive former Wirecard executive who prosecutors suspect played a central role in inflating the fintech company’s results by booking fake income for years.
   
• President Trump nominated Robert Benedict Bowes, a White House adviser and former banker, to serve as one of five commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency that regulates the nation’s vast derivatives markets.
   
• An AmEx Manager Says She Spoke Up About Sales Problems, Then Got Pushed to the Side

The former chief executive of Hertz Global Holdings agreed to pay nearly $2.2 million to settle claims that he pressured subordinates to “find money” to meet financial targets, causing employees to violate accounting rules, according to regulators.

Mark Frissora neither admitted nor denied the Securities and Exchange Commission’s allegations but will refund Hertz nearly $2 million in incentive compensation and pay a $200,000 penalty to the government. The deal is subject to court approval. A lawyer for Mr. Frissora declined to comment.

Two U.S. senators have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate TikTok’s data collection practices after a Wall Street Journal article showed that the company covertly collected data on millions of users through a method that appeared to violate Google’s policies.

The Journal reported on Tuesday that TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, bypassed a privacy safeguard in Google’s Android devices to collect unique identifiers, called MAC addresses, from millions of mobile devices. The collected identifiers, often used for online advertising, would allow the company to track users’ online behavior without their consent. Sens. Jerry Moran (R., Kan.) and John Thune (R., S.D.) asked the FTC to investigate whether the company had stopped collecting these unique identifiers.

• TikTok Deal Could Challenge Microsoft CEO’s Light Touch on Acquisitions

Apple and “Fortnite” maker Epic Games are embroiled in a battle over the fees that app stores charge developers, a clash that pits the powerful tech giant against the creator of one of the world’s most popular videogames.

Apple on Thursday yanked the Fortnite app from its App Store, restricting game downloads and updates on Apple devices, after Epic rolled out a new way of making in-game purchases that circumvents the 30% cut Apple takes from digital transactions within apps. Apple said it removed “Fortnite” because Epic launched the payments feature without its approval.

The conflict reflects growing pushback against the app platforms of Apple and Google. Other app makers, including Netflix and Spotify Technology, have also clashed with Apple over its developer fees. At stake is a global market for mobile apps that by some estimates generates roughly $85 billion annually excluding China.

Efforts to root out scammers in the $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program and $374 billion Economic Injury Disaster Loan program are sweeping up legitimate borrowers. Business owners have had their loan funds frozen, often along with their personal bank accounts, after tripping alarms meant to prevent fraud.

The Justice Department has charged at least 50 people with fraudulently obtaining loans, including two who allegedly used the money to buy Lamborghinis. But the dragnet has also snared lawful companies.

• European countries are reimposing restrictions and checks on holidaymakers in the region, in response to rising coronavirus infections among people traveling within the continent.
   
• Maintenance work likely led to the explosion of a large cache of ammonium nitrate that devastated a large part of the Lebanese capital last week, a U.S. government assessment concluded, according to a person familiar with the matter. The assessment adds to the emerging picture of what caused the Aug. 4 blast that killed more than 160 people, with at least 60 others still missing.
   
• Citigroup paid nearly $900 million by mistake to Revlon lenders and is asking for the money to be returned, according to people familiar with the matter. Lenders that sued Revlon on Wednesday over its debt-restructuring tactics were surprised to learn Thursday they had been fully repaid on a loan issued in 2016, these people said. Citi executives were soon asking for the money back, saying it was paid inadvertently due to an operational error, the people familiar said.

The minority partners of Washington’s NFL team are pressuring Dan Snyder to sell the franchise, according to people familiar with the matter, amid a growing fight inside a team facing controversy on multiple fronts. Mr. Snyder, the team’s 55-year-old billionaire owner, has no intention to sell his majority stake in the team, the people said. A recent legal filing by Mr. Snyder suggests that at least one of the minority partners has attempted to leak defamatory information against him.

The team’s minority owners—FedEx CEO Fred Smith, Black Diamond Capital chairman Robert Rothman and NVR Inc. board chairman Dwight Schar—own approximately 40% of the team and have hired an investment firm to sell their interest in the franchise formerly known as the Redskins. Those same stakes would become more valuable if the entire team, which would likely be worth several billion dollars, were to be sold, the people said.