Covington Forms New Trade Controls Enforcement Group as Government Investigations Proliferate

Covington Forms New Trade Controls Enforcement Group as Government Investigations Proliferate

September 24, 2024

WASHINGTON— As the U.S. government continues to expand its trade controls enforcement efforts, Covington has established a formalized, multi-disciplinary Trade Controls Enforcement Practice Group. The new group houses Covington’s market-leading practice representing clients in criminal, civil, and internal investigations relating to sanctions and export controls.

As the only firm in the country with trade controls and corporate investigations practices ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA, Covington has long been known for taking on the country’s most challenging trade controls enforcement matters. “Corporate trade controls enforcement has become a top priority at the Departments of Justice and Commerce, and with cases also coming from longstanding enforcement programs at the State and Treasury Departments, we’ve found that our clients need the specialized expertise offered by Covington,” said Eric Sandberg-Zakian, chair of the new group and a partner in the firm’s Washington office.

The new group combines the expertise of Covington’s renowned Trade Controls regulatory practice and preeminent White Collar Defense and Investigations practice with seasoned teams on the ground in China, the EU, the UK, and the United States.

“The Deputy Attorney General has described sanctions cases as ‘the new FCPA,’ and we have indeed seen a surge in criminal and regulatory trade controls cases that pose major risks for companies, just as we saw with FCPA cases in the past,” said Steve Fagell, co-chair of Covington’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group. “At Covington, we have developed an unparalleled interdisciplinary approach to defending companies in these investigations – combining regulatory, investigatory, and tactical expertise in a seamless, collaborative, and highly strategic fashion.”

Covington has handled some of the most sensitive and complex trade controls enforcement matters in recent years, from publicly announced settlements for major global companies to hundreds of non-public civil and criminal trade controls cases in which the government took no action at all. Covington also guides companies through congressional investigations and hearings as Congress takes an ever-increasing interest in corporate export controls and sanctions compliance.

“The interdisciplinary collaboration between our leading trade controls and white collar practices sets us apart. This combination drives value for our clients,” said Kim Strosnider, co-chair of Covington’s International Trade Controls Practice Group. "Our firm is at the forefront of an increasingly complicated international trade controls enforcement environment, doing cutting-edge work for some of the world’s largest multinational companies."

In addition to forming a new practice group, Covington also continues to expand its team of senior lawyers working on trade controls cases. Most recently, Covington added Kristin Mace, former Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, as a White Collar Defense and Investigations partner. Kristin has a wealth of experience overseeing the investigation, prosecution, and trial of high-profile criminal national security cases involving sanctions, export controls, and Foreign Agents Registration Act violations.

Covington is home to a deep roster of former high-level government officials with decades of experience on national security issues, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, former White House Counsel Dana Remus, former DOJ Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, and former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Peter Lichtenbaum.

The leaders of Covington’s Trade Controls Enforcement Practice Group include:

Eric Sandberg-Zakian, Chair of the Trade Controls Enforcement Practice Group

Steve Fagell, Co-chair of Covington’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group and Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor at the Department of Justice, Criminal Division

Kim Strosnider, Co-chair of Covington’s International Trade Controls Practice Group

Peter Flanagan, Co-chair of Covington’s International Trade Controls Practice Group

Peter Lichtenbaum, Partner in the International Trade Controls Practice Group, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration in the Department of Commerce, and former Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security

Nancy Kestenbaum, Co-chair of Covington’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group and former Assistant United State Attorney in the Southern District of New York

Aaron Lewis, Co-chair of Covington’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group, former Counsel to the Attorney at the Department of Justice, and a former prosecutor in the National Security Section of the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office