
For decades, Miller & Chevalier has assisted clients with their toughest challenges in the Europe-Caucasus-Asia (ECA) region, which includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. We regularly handle significant matters for international and ECA-based companies operating in the region. Our clients benefit from our lawyers' cultural and language fluency, significant on-the-ground knowledge, and relationships with local practitioners. Our highly skilled practitioners include 15 attorneys with deep experience in the region, five of whom speak Russian and other regional languages, including Armenian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian. Our team includes a former Assistant Attorney General for National Security at U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), a senior U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawyer, and a General Counsel at U.S. Department of Commerce. Our Senior Counsel Homer E. Moyer, Jr. is the founder and Chairman of the Board of the CEELI Institute, an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the development and training of an international network of legal and judicial professionals committed to advancing the rule of law, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe. Member Ann Sultan currently serves on the Board of the CEELI Institute and other Members are regular expert lecturers for the Institute.
Our team has deep experience assisting clients, including companies and boards of directors across industries, in a variety of matters, including:
- Conducting internal investigations of potential fraud and corruption and advising clients on anti-corruption compliance in the region, including as related to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA);
- Developing, managing, and testing anti-corruption compliance programs, providing issue-specific advice and opinion letters;
- Advising on transaction structuring and due diligence; and
- Representing our clients before U.S. enforcement agencies.
Our Economic Sanctions and Export Controls experts advise clients on investigations and enforcement, risk assessments and audits, compliance, transactional due diligence, and licensing, commodity jurisdiction determinations and classification rulings, including for foreign investment in the United States/CFIUS review. Our clients increasingly turn to us for help sorting through issues arising under the Ukraine-/Russia-related Sectoral Sanctions targeting the Russian oil and gas, financial, and defense sectors, and for advice related to the so-called Oligarchs List and related Specially Designated National (SDN) and Blocked Persons listings that have arisen in connection with the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
In September 2018, the firm published its inaugural Europe-Caucasus-Asia Corruption Survey, in which Miller & Chevalier and 10 partner firms in the ECA region surveyed business executives, in-house legal and compliance personnel, and other professionals working in a broad cross-section of industries regarding corruption in the region.
Spotlight
- Conducted a challenging investigation, on behalf of VEON (formerly VimpelCom), a major European telecommunications company, into activities in the ECA region, with the investigation including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, and other countries, as well as investigations by the United States, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. In addition to conducting the investigation, our team was lead counsel in negotiating one of the most significant resolutions since the passage of the FCPA and assisted the company throughout its three-year monitorship, which was successfully completed in 2020.
- Investigated and advised on potential U.S. sanctions issues arising from a major airline company's attempt to purchase aircraft engines from a Russian entity.
- Conducted an investigation of a global agricultural company's operations in the Ukraine in response to anonymous allegations of corruption submitted to our client, which copied the DOJ. After our presentation on the findings, the DOJ closed its investigation with no action taken.
- Served as U.S. counsel to a Canadian company with a U.S. issuer parent. Our team assisted Canadian counsel respond to a whistleblower report of corruption in connection with a project in Kazakhstan. The whistleblower reported the allegations to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and our team assisted the company in disclosing the allegations to the DOJ and SEC.
- Represented a software company in addressing allegations of improper payments to a Russian official in connection with obtaining contracts and related business. The investigation involved the collection of relevant data across several sites, and document review and interviews in Russian and English. Our team helped the client revise its compliance program to better address Russia-related risks and has advised the client as to specific compliance issues.
- Represented an energy company in an FCPA investigation conducted by the SEC and DOJ, with an ancillary investigation by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The matter, which concerned operations in Russia and several other countries, involved government interviews of company personnel, including very senior management. Ultimately, the DOJ and SEC issued declination letters.
- Conducted an investigation of whether an employee of an oil and gas services company was colluding with an agent to bribe government customers. Our team oversaw the review of electronic data (primarily in Russian), conducted interviews of employees and the third party, and recommended remediation.
- Engaged by a multinational corporation in the oil and gas industry to conduct an investigation of its Italian subsidiary's use of representatives to sell to customers in Russia. The investigation included interviews in Italy and Switzerland, discussions with representatives of third parties and document review (in English and Italian) to assess potential violations of the FCPA and U.S. export controls. Our team assisted the company in remediating the issues, including termination of third parties and employees.
- Provided advice and counsel to a large multinational energy company regarding potential issues under the U.S. sectoral sanctions against Russia related to the payment of debts owed by companies on OFAC's Sectoral Sanctions Identification (SSI) list. After investigation of the facts, the firm interacted with the company's bank and with U.S. regulators on complex issues about whether U.S. sanctions permit payment after the normal "debt" deadline for SSI's where delays in payment occur as a result of attempts to resolve good faith disputes about the proper amount of an invoice for goods and services. Ultimately obtained a license from U.S. regulators so that company could accept late payment of the receivable.
- Investigated the circumstances of a prevailing bid on a tender submission to a national oil company in Ukraine, and related compliance issues. Our team engaged directly with the Audit Committee Chair of the national oil company, as well as its Internal Audit lead.
- Director, Office of International Affairs, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Senior Adviser for International Issues to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt
- Deputy Director, Office of International Affairs, U.S Securities and Exchange Commission
- Assistant Director, Office of International Affairs, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel, Division of Enforcement, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- Counsel, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Department of Justice
- General Counsel, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Counselor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Deputy General Counsel, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Attorney-Advisor, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of International Trade - Regulations & Rulings
- Consultant, Human Rights and Development Issues, The World Bank
- Intern, Legal Division of Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus
Chambers USA
- Corporate Crime & Investigations: The Elite (USA-Nationwide), 2021 - 2023
- Corporate Crime & Investigations (USA-Nationwide), 2015 - 2020
- FCPA (USA-Nationwide), 2014 - 2023
Chambers Global
- Corporate Crime & Investigations (USA), 2016 - 2023
- Corporate Investigations/Anti-Corruption (Global: Multi-Jurisdictional), 2017 - 2023
- FCPA (USA), 2015 - 2023
- Investigations & Enforcement (International & Cross-Border) (USA), 2020 - 2023
Global Investigations Review
- GIR 30 Top Global Investigations Practice, 2015 - 2022
- Boutique or Regional Practice of the Year, 2016
- "Elite" in Washington, DC's FCPA Bar, 2016
Legal 500
- Dispute Resolution: International Trade (U.S.), 2011, 2013 - 2022
U.S. News - Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms"
- International Trade and Finance Law (District of Columbia), 2011 - 2023
- International Trade and Finance Law (National), 2011 - 2023