Sanctions Space

In this episode, Colin McDonald discusses his ongoing efforts to build the U.S. Department of Justice's newly created fraud division, pioneering a data-driven approach that targets the biggest threats, maximizes enforcement resources, and intersects with sanctions priorities. He explores the impact of AI-enabled fraud, the role of interagency cooperation in protecting taxpayer dollars and restoring public trust in U.S. government programs, and the importance of global private-public partnerships.  Colin M. McDonald was sworn in as the first Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division on April 1, 2026. Mr. McDonald has served in multiple roles within the Department of Justice since 2014, including as an Associate Deputy Attorney General, an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California, and a Special Attorney to the Attorney General in the District of Hawaii.

Justine sits down with Howard Fields to discuss the complexities of navigating risk across jurisdictions with differing sanctions, regulatory expectations, and risk profiles. Fields explores the importance of governance, the challenges of developing policies across global operations, and the evolving landscape of cross-border information sharing. He also reflects how national security priorities have reshaped risk management over the past decade and why technology will help break down organizational silos and amplify risk signals.  Howard Fields is Executive Vice President, Risk & Compliance Enterprise Solutions and Commercialization at Mastercard. He has extensive experience in building and transforming global compliance, ethics, and risk management programs.

At the ACAMS Assembly Vegas, Justine sits down with Jim Lee, former chief at IRS-CI, to discuss how he is continuing his mission of fighting financial crime and following the money in an increasingly digital ecosystem. Lee discusses how the threat environment has evolved over his career, highlighting the speed and convenience of moving value, how geopolitics is influencing the adoption of digital assets, and a dynamic regulatory environment. Jim Lee is former IRS-CI chief, having overseen a worldwide staff of approximately 3,000 employees, including 2,100 special agents in 21 fields offices and 11 foreign countries. Lee is now Global Head of Capacity Building with Chainalysis, a leading blockchain intelligence firm.

Justine sits down with Nathalie von Taaffe, a leading expert in sanctions and financial crime compliance, to explore how geopolitics — and the global race for dominance — are reshaping the compliance landscape. They discuss shifting enforcement priorities, sanctions enforcement and anti-blocking legislation, and the unintended consequences of de-risking, including financial exclusion and illicit activity. They also examine efforts to rebuild Syria’s financial system and why adaptive compliance Is more critical than ever.

Justine Walker sits down with Dawson Law, a senior advisor on geopolitical risk and compliance. Their conversation explores potential scenarios for Iran, including protracted conflict, partial sanctions relief, and regime collapse — highlighting how economic measures and geopolitical negotiations could shape different outcomes. They also consider broader global developments, from shifting Gulf investment patterns to U.S. policy on Cuba, China, and export controls. Throughout, the episode underscores growing sanctions divergence between the U.S. and its allies, and the need for companies to prepare for geopolitical and regulatory uncertainty. Dawson Law previously served for over a decade as a U.S. diplomat at the US Department of State where he worked on the Iran Desk and was posted at the US Embassies in Sudan, Poland, Vietnam and Australia. He later worked as a senior sanctions policy advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and served as the first U.S. Treasury Representative to the United Kingdom, supporting transatlantic coordination on economic statecraft including Iran sanctions and illicit finance.