Sanctions Space

Epizode

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  Nathalie von Taaffe on Power and Risk in an Evolving Sanctions Space 27.05.2026 24min

  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.
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  Dawson Law on Iranian Sanctions, Evasion, and Global Risk 20.05.2026 20min

  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.
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  Brad Brooks-Rubin on Illicit Gold, Corruption, and Sanctions 08.05.2026 23min

  In this episode, Justine Walker sits down with Brad Brooks-Rubin, a leading expert in sanctions, illicit finance, and corruption to examine why gold — one of the world's oldest stores of value — has become a blind spot in modern sanctions and financial crime frameworks. Their conversation explores gold's central role in illicit finance, corruption, and the shortcomings of existing due-diligence and certification programs. Against a backdrop of intensifying geopolitical competition and evolving payment systems, they unpack what effective accountability, intelligence sharing, and sanctions strategy could look like when confronting high‑risk commodities like gold. Brad Brooks-Rubin focuses on the intersection of different types of risks – sanctions, corruption, money laundering, political, and human rights. Most recently, Brad was a Senior Advisor in the Office of Sanctions Coordination at the U.S. Department of State, where he was responsible for sanctions policy coordination related to sub-Saharan Africa, Burma, the West Bank, and natural resources, principally diamonds, gold, and timber.
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  Rachel Alpert on the Nexus of Geopolitics and Sanctions: Policy, Pressure, and Rollbacks 30.04.2026 24min

  At the ACAMS Assembly Hollywood, Justine Walker sits down with Rachel Alpert, a leading authority on national security, sanctions, human rights, and global strategy, to unpack how geopolitics and sanctions are increasingly intertwined. Their conversation explores how sanctions are shaping global diplomacy—including their role in negotiations with Iran—against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical volatility. Together, they examine how developments in Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, and Russia are influencing sanctions risk, enforcement priorities, and regulatory expectations worldwide, and what this evolving landscape means for organizations navigating compliance today.
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  Jonathan Burke on Evolving Threats, Technology, and Regulation 24.04.2026 17min

  At the ACAMS Hollywood Assembly, Justine sat down with Jonathan Burke, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing. Their discussion explores the evolving terrorist financing risk landscape, the importance of aligning regulation with critical threats and institutional vulnerabilities, and how technology is reshaping fraud at an unprecedented scale and speed. Jonathan Burke leads the U.S. Department of Treasury's counter terrorist financing and anti-money laundering efforts. His career spans more than 20 years across foreign policy, national security, and financial services.
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  Oksana Ihnatenko on Supporting Ukraine 16.10.2025 21min

  At the ACAMS Las Vegas Assembly, Justine sat down with Oksana Ihnatenko, RUSI, and ACAMS Rising Professional of the Year. Their discussion includes Oksana’s research and work to build public-private partnerships in Ukraine, how Ukrainians view current sanctions policy, and how Ukraine’s reconstruction can be funded. Oksana Ihnatenko is a Researcher for the Supervising and Monitoring Ukraine’s Reconstruction Funds (SMURF) project at the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI, based in Kyiv. Her research focuses on Ukraine's adherence to FATF standards, fighting financial crime, anti-money laundering efforts, and issues surrounding reconstruction. You can read more here. https://www.rusi.org/people/ihnatenko
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  Carole House on AI, Cyber and Sanctions 06.10.2025 18min

  At the ACAMS Las Vegas Assembly, Justine sat down with Carole House, Senior Distinguished Fellow, ACAMS. Their discussion includes the AFC implications of generative artificial intelligence, including increasing sophistication of deepfakes and the resulting ‘authenticity crisis’, how we can build resilience to the threat, and trends in cyber-enabled sanctions evasion. Carole House recently joined ACAMS as a Senior Distinguished Fellow. Among Carole’s many prominent and senior roles, she previously served as the White House National Security Council (NSC) special advisor for cybersecurity and critical infrastructure policy.
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  Alex Zerden on the Middle East, Crypto, Cartels and Changing U.S. Priorities 26.09.2025 26min

  At the ACAMS Las Vegas Assembly, Justine sat down with Alex Zerden, Capitol Peak Strategies. Their discussion covers a range of U.S. sanctions priorities, including significant action undertaken on both drug cartels and Iran, easing measures on Syria, and the implications of a U.S.-backed stablecoin. Alex Zerden is the Founder and Principal of Capitol Peak Strategies, a risk advisory firm based in Washington, DC. Capitol Peak works with leading financial institutions, companies and organizations to navigate emerging technologies, financial regulation, and economic crisis.
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  Stephanie Baker on Punishing Putin 28.05.2025 22min

  At the ACAMS Europe Assembly in Paris, Justine sat down with Stephanie Baker, Senior Writer, Bloomberg. Their discussion includes how Russia has exploited loopholes to circumvent sanctions and export controls and continue financing its war, how Russia’s wartime economy may impact peace negotiations, and how the new economic tool of ‘secondary tariffs’ could potentially play out. Stephanie recently published a book titled ‘Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia’. You can find further details here: Punishing Putin — Stephanie Baker | Writer & Journalist https://stephaniebakerwriter.com/punishing-putin
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  Laura Ferris on Sanctions, Corruption, and Illegal Logging 19.05.2025 18min

  On the margins of the ACAMS Hollywood Assembly, Justine sat down with Laura Ferris, The Sentry, to discuss illicit financial flows linked to environmental crime. Their discussion includes assessing the distinct overlap between environmental crime, sanctions, and corruption, as well as a spotlight on the illegal logging trade – including how funds are laundered, the current state of global action to address the trade, and how organizations should think about their related supply chain risk. Laura Ferris is Senior Policy Advisor, Illegal Logging at The Sentry. Find out more here. https://thesentry.org/about/
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  Kimberly Donovan on Geopolitics and the Emerging Axis of Evasion 06.05.2025 22min

  ‘As we start to piece this all together, we found that there were certain trends and typologies that were very similar in terms of how China was working with Russia, as well as how China was working with Iran, and then just kind of shaping out this broader network of actors.’ In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast – recorded at the ACAMS Hollywood Assembly - Justine is joined by Kimberly Donovan, director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. They discuss geopolitical trends and the interrelation with sanctions compliance - including the emergence of an ‘axis of evasion’ network utilizing techniques such as barter trade to circumvent sanctions restrictions - and how modern financial crime fighters need to increase their understanding of the evolving geopolitical environment in order to build it into their programs. Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Kimberly served in the federal government for fifteen years, most recently as the acting associate director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) Intelligence Division and FinCEN’s chief of staff and senior advisor to the director. Read Kimberly’s full bio here. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/kimberly-donovan/
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  Marshall Billingslea on U.S. Sanctions Policy and Priorities 12.03.2025 29min

  ‘I think that the administration is prudently reviewing the sanctions to determine what measures could be eased, in what sequence, in the event that Russia does prove amenable to negotiations. I, for my part, believe that we will have to go down the path of additional punitive measures first.’ -Marshall Billingslea on potential sanctions easing on Russia In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine is joined by Marshall Billingslea, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. They discuss how the second Trump administration may be thinking about the use of sanctions and economic statecraft and what listeners should be prepared for. This includes the potential for relief - or indeed intensification - of U.S. sanctions on Russia, the increased use of tariffs, the restoration of maximum pressure against Iran, and how the administrations' fentanyl strategy is likely to play out. Marshall Billingslea is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, prior to which he was the special presidential envoy for arms control at the US Department of State, holding the rank of ambassador. Before joining the State Department, Mr. Billingslea served as the assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the US Department of the Treasury, and in 2018, he was selected as president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). You can read more about Marshall’s background here. https://www.hudson.org/experts/1358-marshall-billingslea
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  Edward Fishman on the Age of Economic Warfare 18.02.2025 27min

  ‘We’re living in an age of economic warfare. Sanctions, export controls, tariffs – they’re now the primary way that states compete with one another.’ In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine is joined by Edward Fishman, author of Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare and a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, among other roles. They discuss the latest U.S. - Russia negotiation headlines, the importance of leveraging sanctions relief as a diplomatic carrot, how the use of tariffs in economic warfare is evolving, plus what may be next for U.S. sanctions on China and Iran. Find out more about Edward’s new book here. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726149/chokepoints-by-edward-fishman/
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  Elaine Dezenski on U.S. Sanctions and Economic Statecraft in 2025 29.01.2025 23min

  ‘Navigating the fault lines between the U.S. and China and this accelerated convergence of economic statecraft – not just how sanctions might be deployed, or export controls, but also tariffs and investment review – all of which are going to figure into this new space.’ -Elaine Dezenski on key risks to be thinking about In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine is joined by Elaine K. Dezenski, senior director and head of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. They discuss predictions for U.S. sanctions in 2025 under the new administration, including how sanctions may be positioned within a broader set of economic tools and economic statecraft, how global alliances may evolve, as well as how the U.S. and its partners can combat transnational kleptocracy. Read Elaine’s bio here: Elaine K. Dezenski https://www.fdd.org/team/elaine-dezenski/
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  AML Legends Talk Sanctions 12.11.2024 24min

  ‘I believe that it’s become very complex for financial institutions to actually comply. The ask by the Treasury to focus on sanctions evasion is really, in many ways, the bridge back to AML’ -Bill Fox on the global sanctions landscape and what it means for FIs ‘The only sector that really can enforce [sanctions] are the financial institutions sector. We are the police – even though we say all the time in the AML world that we’re not the police – I think we are the police when it comes to sanctions’ -Rick Small on the global sanctions landscape and what it means for FIs On the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine sat down with AML legends Rick Small, Executive Vice President, Director Financial Crimes program at Truist and Bill Fox, former Managing Director Financial Crimes at Bank of America. They discuss the intersection and interlinkage between sanctions and AML, assessing sanctions risk in a complex environment, and how the effectiveness of sanctions frameworks could be improved.
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  Jasleen Bains on the Terrorism-Crypto-Sanctions Nexus 21.10.2024 19min

  ‘Looking at KYE (know your ecosystem), you’re able to essentially review the transaction that is not directly with you, and so you can see where the tokens are landing before potentially they’re going towards some sort of illicit flow or to an illicit actor.’ -Jasleen Bains on how to mitigate CTF risks Recorded at ACAMS Las Vegas Assembly, in this latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine sat down with Jasleen Bains, Compliance Consultant, Ondo Finance and Founder, Bains Labs. They discuss the terrorism-financing landscape and how the illicit financial flows are evading sanctions, the evolution of crypto-related terrorist financing risks, and how regulations could be strengthened to make sanctions relating to crypto more effective.
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  Jessica Bartlett on Adapting to Evolving Sanctions Risks 14.10.2024 22min

  ‘We’re all going to be on this journey, I don’t think we’re going to be in a world where no one’s going to use AI because it’s too hard, we are going to use it, the question is how do we make sure to implement it and execute it so that it’s efficient and credible’. -Jessica Bartlett In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine is joined by Jessica Bartlett, Managing Director and Head of Global Financial Crime Legal at Barclays. They discuss how the global sanctions landscape has changed over the past decade, how to think about the interlinkage between sanctions and export controls, and how financial institutions need to undertake a mindset shift to strengthen sanctions compliance.
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  Gavin Coles and Kylie Oliver on the Australian Sanctions Perspective 19.07.2024 23min

  ‘As the other core markets for Russia are closing down and tightening the grip, they’re looking for other mechanisms. And we may be seen as an easier mechanism because we haven’t had the benefit of the learnings of the European and the American banks, where they have been really having to grapple with this on a day-to-day basis. We’re now really having to turn our attention to that indirect risk.’ -Kylie Oliver on sanctions risks in Australia ‘We need to think about customers and markets that we may touch into from Australia. It’s a very different risk landscape - much more complex I’d suggest - than it may be in the Northern Hemisphere around this Russian sanctions issue.’ -Gavin Coles on sanctions risks in Australia In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine is joined by Gavin Coles, Global Sanctions Officer at OFX and Kylie Oliver, Senior Manager Enterprise Sanctions Compliance at ANZ. They discuss how industry in Australia is dealing with a complex global sanctions environment, how sanctions exposure can manifest itself in the region, and vulnerabilities to secondary sanctions risks.
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  Toms Platacis and Paulis Iljenkovs on Countering Sanctions Evasion 29.05.2024 20min

  ‘there must a deterrent effect, that people must be afraid to breach sanctions, especially when it involves common high priority goods or items that generate a lot of revenue to the Russian government to wage war in Ukraine. By proper deterrent effect, I mean real convictions with proper jail times or very hefty fines levied against those who have been intentionally involved in breaching sanctions or have been grossly negligent’ -Paulis Iļjenkovs on strengthening sanctions enforcement in the EU In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine is joined by Toms Platacis and Paulis Iljenkovs, Head and Deputy Head of Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Latvia respectively. They discuss the sanctions enforcement landscape in Latvia, including the recent development of the FIU becoming the national competent authority – a ‘one-stop shop’ - for sanctions. They also discuss the exposure to Russia sanctions in the Baltics, the importance of awareness raising among industry, and the potential role AMLA could play in strengthening enforcement.
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  John Smith and Chloe Cina on the Sanctions Enforcement Landscape 20.05.2024 18min

  ‘It’s one of the most important developments I think you’ll see coming out of the US in terms of sanctions enforcement, probably for years’ -John Smith on the extension of OFAC’s statute of limitations to 10 years for sanctions violations. In the latest episode of the Sanctions Space Podcast, Justine is joined by John Smith, co-head of Morrison Foerster’s National Security practice and former Director of OFAC, and Chloe Cina, Partner at Morrison Foerster. They discuss the evolving sanctions enforcement landscape (across both the US and Europe), the extension to 10 years for statute of limitations for sanctions violations in the US and the resulting impact for industry, and the potential sanctions implications of the upcoming US elections. John E. Smith, former Director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), is co-head of Morrison Foerster’s National Security practice, and a member of the Crisis Management group and Investigations + White Collar group. After serving 11 years as a top official at OFAC and three years as its Director, Mr. Smith brings to the firm unmatched experience in economic sanctions, enforcement, and national security. Read John’s bio here:https://www.mofo.com/people/john-smith. Chloe Cina is a partner in the London office of Morrison Foerster with unrivalled experience in EU and UK economic sanctions and export control measures. She has nearly two decades of experience in litigating and advising on complex national security issues, both within government and in-house at two leading global financial institutions. Read Chloe’s bio here:https://www.mofo.com/people/chloe-cina.