Sanctions Masterclass: Jurisdiction and Sanctions Regimes - Rapid-Fire Update

Justine draws on a diverse global career, working across government, regulatory, private sector, and international organisations. As an expert on sanctions, counterterrorism, and financial crime she has held specialist positions within the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, HM Treasury, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Central Asia), the British Bankers’ Association, and UK Finance. In addition, Justine was formerly part of the UK delegation to the Financial Action Task Force, chaired the European Banking Federation’s Sanctions Expert Group, co-chaired the UK Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce’s counterterrorist financing group and served as an International Monetary Fund advisor to Nigeria. She has acted as an independent Syria sanctions-humanitarian expert to the United Nations, and previously served as a national expert on the financing of weapons of mass destruction (WMD)/counter proliferation financing matters. 
 
In her role within ACAMS, the world’s leading membership organization with a presence in over 180 jurisdictions, Justine oversees the subject-matter-expert division. A regular contributor to media publications covering financial-crime issues, she has addressed UN expert groupings, given evidence to parliamentary hearings, and authored numerous publications. Justine also holds a Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews and an M.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh.

Sameena Ali is a Financial Crime Compliance professional at the regional office of a leading global bank in Dubai, UAE. She possesses 20 years of experience in broad ranging global sanctions risk management, branch banking, service quality and corporate training. Sameena has held various positions across financial crime risk management and compliance functions in the last 15 years focusing on designing of policy and procedures, providing advice to businesses on the interpretation/ application of regulatory expectations, laws, best practices, policies related to sanctions compliance, implementation of sanctions and anti-money laundering programs and systems. She is currently responsible for oversight and management of Sanctions investigations for the Africa and Middle East region.

Sameena holds an MBA in Finance along with being a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (CAMS), Certified Global Sanctions Specialist (CGSS) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). She has actively engaged in various global sanctions and financial crime forums as a speaker, sharing insights on effective compliance strategies, emerging trends and best practices.

Sam Cousins is a Senior Associate at ACAMS, where his work includes supporting public-private partnerships and strengthening ACAMS thought leadership pillar through the development of content on sanctions and risk, particularly the Sanctions Masterclass program and Global Monthly Update. Sam's work also focuses on countering ransomware financing, which includes enhancing industry awareness of the anti-financial crime risks associated with ransomware attacks and supporting the mitigation of those risks through policies, training and public-private dialogue.

Prior to ACAMS, Sam worked on the Sanctions Policy team at UK Finance - the trade association for the UK banking sector.

Sasha is the Director of Financial Crimes Legal at Barclays Asia and Middle East.  On an interim basis, she is acting as the global co-head of the Financial Crime Legal team at Barclays.

In her role, Sasha advises clients on a broad-spectrum of Financial Crime matters (including sanctions, export controls, AML, ABC and national security matters) that affect the business on a day-to-day basis.  Prior to joining Barclays, Sasha worked at American Express Global Business Travel, where she served as Chief Compliance Officer for the company’s international operations.

Sasha has worked as in-house counsel in APAC for the last 15 years, focusing on areas of law such as economic sanctions, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering.  Sasha regularly supports thought leadership in the industry in APAC on financial crime developments impacting the region.

Sasha received her BA from Barnard College, Columbia University and her law degree from Brooklyn Law School, both in New York City. She lives in Hong Kong.

Adam M. Smith is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and serves as co-chair of the firm’s International Trade Practice Group. He is an experienced international lawyer with a focus on international trade compliance and white collar investigations, including federal and state economic sanctions enforcement, CFIUS, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, embargoes, and export and import controls.

Chambers USA and Chambers Global consistently rank Adam as a leading attorney in International Trade: Export Controls & Economic Sanctions. In those publications, clients describe Adam as “a terrific resource for clients” and a “reassuring lawyer in a complex area of law.” Most recently, Legal 500 US 2024 named Adam a "Leading Lawyer" in International trade: Customs, export controls and economic sanctions. Global Investigations Review has named him to its “25 Most Respected Sanctions Lawyers in Washington, D.C.” list, which features individuals who work on the most significant cases. The Best Lawyers in America® recognizes him for International Trade and Finance Law. Who’s Who Legal regularly recognizes him as a Thought Leader for Trade & Customs, International Sanctions, and in its Global Elite Guide.

Clients benefit from Adam’s experience in the Obama Administration, where he was Senior Advisor to the Director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Director for Multilateral Affairs on the National Security Council. At OFAC, he was instrumental in shaping and enforcing sanctions policies, briefing Congressional and private sector leaders, conducting extensive international outreach, and negotiating complex agreements. On the National Security Council, he advised the President on international sanctions, coordinated inter-agency efforts, and developed strategies to counter corruption and promote asset recovery.