In the ever-evolving and complex world of economic sanctions, voluntary self-disclosure is frequently the best long-term strategy for any company that discovers a violation of a sanctions regime. The more difficult task is to assess the costs and benefits of self-disclosure in cases where the conduct falls into a gray area. We explain the complex relationship between voluntary self-disclosure and the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s enforcement response in a chapter recently published in the International Comparative Legal Guide.

Read the chapter here.

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Photo of Seetha Ramachandran Seetha Ramachandran

Seetha Ramachandran is a partner in the Litigation Department, and a member of the White Collar and Asset Management Litigation practices. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Seetha has conducted 10 criminal jury trials, argued 10 appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals…

Seetha Ramachandran is a partner in the Litigation Department, and a member of the White Collar and Asset Management Litigation practices. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Seetha has conducted 10 criminal jury trials, argued 10 appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and handled ancillary civil proceedings in forfeiture cases.

Seetha is a leading expert in anti-money laundering (AML), Bank Secrecy Act, economic sanctions and asset forfeiture matters. Her practice focuses on white collar and regulatory enforcement defense, internal investigations, and compliance counseling. She represents banks, broker dealers, hedge funds, private equity funds, online payment companies, and individual executives and officers in high stakes and sensitive matters. Seetha has deep experience representing institutions and individuals in financial penalty phase of criminal and regulatory matters, and is often retained to litigate forfeiture and restitution claims on behalf of victims and third parties in criminal cases, as well as handling these issues for individual defendants.

Seetha served as a federal prosecutor for nearly 10 years, including as Deputy Chief in the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (AFMLS), Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice. She was the first head of DOJ’s Money Laundering & Bank Integrity Unit, where she supervised DOJ’s first major AML prosecutions, and oversaw all of the Criminal Division’s AML cases. In that role, Seetha coordinated closely with state and federal banking regulators, including FinCEN, the OCC and the New York State Department of Financial Services, giving her deep experience with how these agencies work together, especially in matters involving civil and criminal liability. Her work developing and charging criminal cases under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) formed the model for AML enforcement that regulators and prosecutors follow today.

Seetha also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for nearly six years, in the Complex Frauds, Major Crimes and Asset Forfeiture units where she investigated and prosecuted white-collar cases involving a wide range of financial crimes, including bank fraud, mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, stolen art and cultural property, and civil and criminal forfeiture cases.

Seetha is a frequent speaker and prolific author on topics including enforcement trends in the financial services industry, OFAC sanctions, effective AML programs and asset forfeiture.

Photo of Lucas Kowalczyk Lucas Kowalczyk

Lucas Kowalczyk is a senior counsel in the Litigation Department and a member of the Appellate Group, which has been named to the National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List. Lucas has authored dozens of briefs in federal and state appellate and trial courts…

Lucas Kowalczyk is a senior counsel in the Litigation Department and a member of the Appellate Group, which has been named to the National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List. Lucas has authored dozens of briefs in federal and state appellate and trial courts, as well as at the certiorari and merits stages in the Supreme Court of the United States. He has also argued cases in both state and federal appellate courts. His appellate work spans high-stakes constitutional, bankruptcy, labor and employment, antitrust, intellectual property, and commercial disputes. Lucas has also co-authored chapters of Principles of Appellate Litigation: A Guide to Modern Practice (PLI Press), a comprehensive treatise on appellate practice updated annually.

Lucas has experience across a wide range of industries, spanning from sports and healthcare to financial services, entertainment, consumer products, and life sciences. He has represented many prominent companies and institutions, including the NBA, MLB, Los Angeles Lakers, Church & Dwight, Ernst & Young, Toll Brothers, Cedars-Sinai, Michaels Stores, NBCUniversal, Bloomberg, L.P., Amherst College and IAM National Pension Fund, among others.

Lucas’s notable appellate matters include obtaining a critical victory at the U.S. Supreme Court for the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in an appeal concerning the Board’s sovereign immunity. He also prevailed at the First Circuit for the Board in four related appeals, defending the $18-billion plan of adjustment for the Sales Tax Financing Corporation, a critical component of Puerto Rico’s historic fiscal recovery.

Lucas is also a member of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Group, focusing on government and internal investigations as well as criminal and regulatory matters. Among other representations, Lucas helped secure a full release of nearly $20 million worth of interest in assets seized from the firm’s client by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Additionally, Lucas has successfully defended clients in high-stakes contractual disputes involving financial services, life sciences, consumer goods, telecommunications, and other industries in trial courts and arbitrations in a number of jurisdictions.

Lucas also maintains a diverse pro bono practice and has represented indigent clients in immigration, family and appellate courts, and in death penalty proceedings. Among his notable cases, Lucas prevailed in a Second Circuit appeal regarding the government’s burden in justifying the continued detention of a noncitizen in removal proceedings. Lucas has received the Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award and Proskauer’s Golden Gavel Award for obtaining a critical victory for his client—an indigent grandmother acting as guardian for her two learning-disabled grandchildren—in an appeal argued by Lucas before the New York State Appellate Division, First Department. The court held that an amendment to New York’s Subsidized Kinship Guardian Program applied retroactively and required an award of benefits to the client’s grandchildren.

Lucas is a graduate of the National Trial Advocacy College.