WASHINGTON– Adam Szubin, who previously led the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and served for nearly a decade as the Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), has joined Covington in Washington.
Adam focuses his practice on advisory and enforcement matters involving U.S. national security, with a particular focus on economic and financial sanctions, anti-money laundering regulations, import/export controls, and other tools of economic statecraft. He leverages his extensive experience in U.S. government and private practice to advise leading global companies and financial institutions facing an increasingly dynamic and uncertain national security regulatory landscape.
"Adam is a recognized leader with deep experience in economic sanctions, anti-money laundering rules, financial sector regulation, and other key areas of national security law and policy,” said Doug Gibson, Covington’s chair. “His unique government experience will provide our clients with invaluable insights into U.S. national security policymaking and enforcement, helping to guide them through their most sensitive transactions, investigations, and disputes.”
Adam’s distinguished 13 year tenure at the U.S. Department of Treasury spanned the presidential administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. He served for two years as Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and for nine years as the Director of OFAC. He also briefly served as Acting Secretary of Treasury at the start of the first Trump Administration.
As the Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Adam led the Treasury Department’s policy, enforcement, regulatory, and intelligence functions aimed at combating foreign adversaries, international terrorist organizations, proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, narcotics traffickers, and others posing threats to U.S. national security and economic interests. He also advised the Treasury Secretary and National Security Council on a wide range of economic and national security issues, including the powers and limitations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Earlier in his career, Adam served in the Department of Justice as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General and worked as a trial attorney in DOJ’s Civil Division.
“The experience and depth of Covington’s international trade and national security practices are unmatched, and I’m excited to launch this new chapter of my career from such an exceptional platform,” said Adam. “I have long admired Covington for its commitment to collaboration, collegiality, integrity, and excellence, and I look forward to working with this fantastic team.”
In addition to his work in private practice, Adam is a professor of practice at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Adam earned his JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1999 and his BA, magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1995. He was a Fulbright Scholar and clerked for Judge Ronald Gilman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
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