Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act

A Unique Enforcement Perspective

We are uniquely situated to help our clients manage regulatory and enforcement risk, whether through front-end compliance assistance or responding to law enforcement or regulatory inquiries. Our team is led by two former federal prosecutors who focused much of their careers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement. One of these former prosecutors was an inaugural Deputy Chief of the DOJ’s Money Laundering and Bank Integrity Unit, DOJ’s sole unit dedicated to criminally enforcing the Bank Secrecy Act, and oversaw some of the most important BSA and AML cases ever brought by the DOJ. The other former prosecutor not only handled numerous complex BSA matters from an enforcement perspective, he also acted as a chief architect of various national legislative, regulatory and policy strategies affecting the government’s anti-money laundering and asset forfeiture programs. Both of them have deep ties within DOJ, the Department of Treasury, the SEC, FINRA and the Department of State, and have a deep knowledge of how the federal regulatory and enforcement components operate and interact with each other.

Financial Institutions Look to Us

Our lawyers have broad BSA/AML experience across the spectrum of bank and nonbank financial institutions. These include broker-dealers, casinos, money transmission service providers and their licensing – in particular, in the technology and startup fields – as well as traditional banking sector participants. Our combination of knowledge and skill permits us to anticipate potential problems before they become serious issues and to assist clients in responding effectively to examination criticisms as well as regulatory and law enforcement actions.

In addition, we have extensive experience conducting sensitive due diligence investigations of high-risk clients and in high-risk business sectors, as well as with general transaction diligence. We frequently work with the deal team in connection with mergers, acquisitions and underwritings to ensure compliance with U.S. and applicable local laws, in particular in the money service business and fintech space.