EXPERIENCE

Chris regularly advises major Japanese and other global companies and leading financial institutions in their most sensitive matters, and has amassed significant experience in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-money laundering, and economic sanctions areas.  Chris also routinely provides strategic counseling on compliance issues and crisis management. 

Chris’s current and recent representations include:

• A significant Japanese financial institution in parallel federal and state regulatory proceedings in the United States;
• A Japanese company in connection with an investigation conducted by a multilateral development bank of potential corruption issues;
• Various Japanese companies in internal and government-initiated bribery/corruption related investigations;
• A major Japanese conglomerate and its U.S. subsidiary in a fraud investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California;
• Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn in high profile criminal charges and civil claims in the United States and Japan, including a civil settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission;
• Several Japanese manufacturing companies in connection with product quality assurance issues, including data falsification and manipulation;
• A Taiwanese manufacturing company in a sanctions, money laundering, and bank fraud investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice;
• A Korean semiconductor company in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation regarding various accounting issues;
• Several Japanese and Chinese financial institutions in Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering matters, including advising on remedial measures and compliance program enhancements; and
• Numerous private equity funds, investment banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension plans, and other institutional investors in connection with compliance-related transactional due diligence in Asia.

Chris previously served for over six and a half years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. There, he was a member of the Securities & Commodities Fraud Task Force and the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Chris investigated and prosecuted a wide array of complex white-collar matters, including FCPA violations, insider trading, accounting fraud, market manipulation, investment advisor fraud, money laundering, intellectual property and cybercrimes, and criminal tax offenses. During his tenure as a prosecutor, Chris was the lead trial lawyer in numerous jury trials, and he has substantial appellate experience, having briefed and/or argued over a dozen appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Chris is a recipient of the U.S. Department of Justice’s John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement.

From 2014 to 2015, Chris served as Associate Counsel in the Office of the White House Counsel under President Barack Obama. In that capacity, Chris helped develop and execute the White House’s response to various Congressional investigations, and provided legal and strategic advice to White House staff and Executive Branch officials on compliance, oversight, and risk management issues.

Chris has previously served on both the New York City Bar Association’s Criminal Advocacy Committee and its Judiciary Committee, which reviews and evaluates all judicial candidates for the federal and state courts in New York City.

Chris served as a notes editor for the Stanford Law Review. He is registered as a gaikokuho jimu bengoshi in Japan.