Adam M. Smith is of counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is an experienced international lawyer with a focus on international trade compliance and white collar investigations, including with respect to federal and state economic sanctions enforcement, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, embargoes, and export controls.
From 2010-2015 Mr. Smith served in the Obama Administration as the Senior Advisor to the Director of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and as the Director for Multilateral Affairs on the National Security Council. At OFAC he played a primary role in all aspects of the agency's work, including briefing Congressional and private sector leadership on sanctions matters, shaping new Executive Orders, regulations, and policy guidance for both strengthening sanctions (Russia and Syria) and easing measures (Burma and Cuba), and advising on enforcement actions following sanctions violations.
Mr. Smith travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Americas conducting outreach with governments and private sector actors on sanctions, risk, and compliance. This outreach included meetings with senior leadership in several sectors including finance, logistics, insurance and reinsurance, energy, mining, technology, and private equity.
Mr. Smith frequently chaired the Treasury delegation to EU/G7 consultations regarding Russia sanctions and negotiated with EU institutions and member states to implement coordinated measures. Additionally, Mr. Smith managed the development and implementation of the U.S. government's international outreach program on Congressionally-mandated Iran sanctions and helped develop proposed sanctions relief strategies as a part of the Iranian nuclear negotiations.
During Mr. Smith's tenure on the White House's National Security Council he advised the President on his multilateral agenda including with respect to international sanctions, coordinated inter-agency efforts to relieve U.S. economic restrictions on Burma, and developed strategies to counter corruption and illicit flows and to promote stolen asset recovery.
