A recap and video of this event is available here.
In response to the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the United States and allied partners imposed an unprecedented sanctions regime on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian individuals, and the Russian economy. But questions remain on whether these economic measures will alter the political calculations in Moscow. Please join the American Security Project at 3:00 PM EST on Wednesday, April 6, for a conversation with Dr. Louise Shelley, Juan Zarate, and Mandeep Walia on the geopolitical implications of sanctions.
About the Speakers
Dr. Louise Shelley is the Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair, University Professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government, and the founder and Director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University.
She is a leading expert on the relationship among terrorism, organized crime and corruption as well as human trafficking, transnational crime and terrorism with a particular focus on the former Soviet Union. She also specializes in illicit financial flows and money laundering. She has recently completed an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, and is the recipient of the Guggenheim, NEH, IREX, Kennan Institute, and Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships and received MacArthur Grants to establish the Russian Organized Crime Study Centers and to study the role of non-state actors in nuclear proliferation. Professor Shelley served on the Global Agenda Council on Illicit Trade and Organized Crime of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and was the first co-chair of its Council on Organized Crime. Professor Shelley is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Honorable Juan Zarate is global co-managing partner and chief strategy officer at K2 Integrity. Juan has advised on the most challenging anti-money laundering (AML) and financial integrity enforcement issues facing the private sector, working with key financial intelligence units, regulators, finance ministries, prosecutors, and law enforcement agencies around the world.
Prior to K2 Integrity, Juan served as the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism, where he was responsible for developing and implementing the U.S. counterterrorism strategy and policies related to transnational security threats, including anti-money laundering, kleptocracy, and transnational organized crime. He was the first-ever assistant secretary of the treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes. Juan sits on the boards of various organizations, including Northwestern Mutual, Boston Dynamics, Cambridge Quantum Computing (North America), the Director’s Advisory Board for the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), is the chair of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and an independent advisor to Coinbase.
Mandeep Walia is Chief Compliance and Risk Officer of Circle Internet Financial. Mandeep joined Circle’s leadership following an extensive career in global financial compliance and risk management at leading organizations. Mandeep served as the Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Enterprise Risk Management for Novi, which is a part of Facebook. Prior to Novi, where Mandeep is largely credited for building a comprehensive compliance and risk framework for blockchain-based payment systems, Mandeep served as the Chief Risk and Compliance Officer for LendUp and as a Senior Director of Global Risk and Compliance for PayPal, among senior leadership roles in other global financial institutions.
