Conferences & Seminars

Agenda

08:30

Registration & Refreshments

08:50

Welcome

Hugo Keith KC, Three Raymond Buildings

09:00

On the frontier: the banking and crypto perspective on sanctions and the need to align sanctions compliance with broader anti financial crime systems

Panellists: Sinéad Goss, Managing Director, International Head of Financial Crime and Sanctions, Legal, Citibank; Nick Turner, Global Sanctions Lead Counsel, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange; and Nicholas Yeo KC and Charlotte Branfield, Three Raymond Buildings

10:15

Coffee & Networking Break

10:45

Navigating an evolving landscape: from designations & proportionality, ownership & control, and commercial & investor-state disputes to the overlaps with asset freezing & forfeiture, and sovereign wealth & reparations

Panellists: David Reed MBE, Director of Sanctions, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO); and Hugo Keith KC, Rachel Barnes KC and Stephen Bailey, Three Raymond Buildings

11:50

Trends in enforcement: lessons learned from civil and criminal enforcement actions, government agency cooperation, and what the future might hold

Panellists: Beth Davies, Deputy Director, Head of Enforcement, Engagement, Policy & Strategy, Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI); Anna Deibel-Jung, Deputy Director, Head, Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI); and Robert Morris and Ryan Dowding, Three Raymond Buildings

12.55

Closing Remarks

Hugo Keith KC, Three Raymond Buildings

13:00

Networking Lunch

Guest Speakers

Nick Turner, Global Sanctions Lead Counsel, Binance, a leading cryptocurrency exchange

Nick Turner is Global Sanctions Lead Counsel for Binance. Prior to joining Binance, Nick served as Managing Associate General Counsel for Financial Crime Legal Advisory at HSBC in Hong Kong and in private practice in the Hong Kong offices of Steptoe and Clifford Chance. He has advised multinational financial institutions and corporations in the United States, Europe, and Asia on all aspects of economic sanctions, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery and corruption compliance and investigations. Nick is qualified to practice law in the State of New York and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).

Sinéad Goss, Managing Director, International Head of Financial Crime, Legal, Citi

Sinéad Goss is the International Head for Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Bribery & Corruption and Sanctions Legal at Citi. Having originally trained and qualified as a corporate solicitor with CMS Cameron McKenna LLP, she joined Citi in 2007 as the Europe, Middle East and Africa Head of Investment Banking Legal. Sinéad fulfilled this role for 7 years before moving into her current role in 2014. She provides legal advice to the bank on complex AML, Anti-bribery, other financial crime and sanctions issues across the world (excluding the USA), including both advisory and investigations work.  She has a particular specialism and interest in economic sanctions and has been substantially involved in navigation of the UK/EU sanctions imposed in relation to the Russia/Ukraine crisis.

Citi (also known as Citigroup or Citibank) has physical presence in 94 countries, 77 of which have trading floors; it does business in nearly 180 countries and jurisdictions, and can issue currencies in 144 markets. Approximately, Citi processes USD 5 trillion a day.

David Reed MBE, Director of Sanctions, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)

David Reed was appointed as Director for Sanctions at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in 2022. He is responsible for the development and delivery of UK sanctions policy.

Prior to taking on this new role, he served as UK Deputy High Commissioner to Canada, with a particular focus on economic and trade issues. He has had previous diplomatic postings to Cyprus where he worked on the settlement negotiations; and to France, where he was responsible for Justice and Home Affairs cooperation; as well as to Poland. In 2016 he received an MBE for his crisis management work. In London, he has worked in the Foreign Office’s EU Directorate and the Cabinet Office’s European and Global Issues Secretariat.

Before becoming a civil servant, David worked in the City of London as a solicitor specializing in commercial litigation, including a secondment to Barclays.

Beth Davies, Deputy Director, Head of Enforcement, Engagement, Policy & Strategy, Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI)

Beth Davies is a Deputy Director in HM Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), leading on strategy, engagement and policy. Beth has extensive civil service experience having worked in trade, devolution and constitutional affairs, across the UK Government, Devolved Administrations and Jersey before joining OFSI. Based in the Darlington Economic Campus, Beth is a champion for HM Treasury’s regional presence in the Northeast.

Anna Deibel-Jung, Deputy Director, Head, Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI)

Anna is responsible for leading the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) in the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). To maximise the impact of the unprecedented package of sanctions against Russia imposed by the UK, OTSI has been set up as a dedicated Government unit, equipped with new powers, which will strengthen trade sanctions implementation and enforcement.

Anna is a highly experienced senior civil servant. Prior to moving to DBT to take up her current role last year, Anna spent most of her career at HM Treasury in wide-ranging leadership, policy and delivery roles, including leading the economic response to the Covid pandemic, on savings and pensions, consumer policy and financial services regulation.

Speakers – Three Raymond Buildings

Hugo Keith KC is recognised as one of the legal profession’s leading King’s Counsel. In the current Chambers and Partners guide to the UK bar he is ranked in seven categories: sanctions, administrative & public law, extradition, financial crime, financial crime: corporates, inquests & inquiries, and proceeds of crime & asset forfeiture. He was formerly a member of the ‘A’ Panel of civil Treasury Counsel, and regularly appeared on matters of public and criminal law both on behalf of government departments and as amicus curiae before the High Court, Court of Appeal and House of Lords/Supreme Court. Since February 2022 he has been consulted by many of London’s leading law firms, as well as global businessmen, industrialists, corporations and charities, in relation to sanctions exposure. He is acting on behalf of a significant number of sanctioned individuals in connection with their challenges to the UK government. He is Joint head of chambers at Three Raymond Buildings and currently lead counsel to the UK public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rachel Barnes KC is recognised as a leading practitioner in sanctions law and was Legal 500’s International Law Silk of the Year, 2024. She is a dual-qualified English barrister and US attorney (New York). Rachel’s wider practice includes public international law, international human rights and humanitarian law, corruption, financial, corporate and cross-border crime. As well as defending and prosecuting in complex criminal cases, she acts in criminal justice related public law and civil cases and international arbitrations. Recent UK sanctions cases include Celestial Aviation Services Ltd v UniCredit Bank AG [2024] EWCA Civ 628; Vneshprombank LLC v Bedzhamov [2024] EWHC 1048; Mikhail Fridman v HM Treasury [2023] EWHC 2657 (Admin). Having been admitted to the New York State Bar since 2000, where she previously practiced, a significant portion of her practice is US-related. Rachel is the co-editor of the international practitioner’s text The Guide to Sanctions. She holds law degrees from Cambridge University and Harvard Law School and a PhD (Cantab) for her study of UN Security Council sanctions, and previously taught law at Cambridge University and the London School of Economics.

Nicholas Yeo KC is a financial crime silk. He has particular expertise in money laundering, asset freezing, civil recovery and AML compliance. He is described as the “go-to person” and a “leading expert” on POCA in Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 and is frequently instructed in complex high profile matters. His sanctions practice includes advising financial institutions, designated persons and third parties in relation to the Russia sanctions. Notably , he appeared for the Claimant in a challenge against OFSI licence decisions in Fridman v HMT (with Rachel Barnes KC). He also has specialist knowledge of supply chain issues arising from the Global Human Rights Sanctions and the World Uyghur Congress case. Outside of the sanctions sphere, Nick acted for the claimant in the Freshview case concerning asset forfeiture as a result of money laundering regulations non-compliance. He regularly advises companies on money laundering compliance and has written a book for OUP on the topic. He is a recognised expert in corporate criminal liability and serious fraud.

Robert Morris represents companies and individuals in complex sanctions and financial crime matters. He acted for the wife of the former governor of Sevastopol in the first prosecution brought under the Russia Regulations. His financial crime practice encompasses the full spectrum of bribery, corruption, money laundering and the recovery of the proceeds of crime. He has extensive experience advising on matters involving the Proceeds of Crime Act , including restraint, confiscation, civil recovery and related enforcement issues. Much of his work has a multi-jurisdictional dimension , often involving parallel investigations and proceedings. He regularly advises companies, individuals, law firms and designated persons on both financial sanctions and trade sanctions.

Ryan Dowding is a barrister specialising in sanctions, general and white-collar crime, public law and regulatory work. He has considerable experience advising and representing those targeted or affected by sanctions and has acted on behalf of individuals, corporates and law enforcement authorities. He is also the co-author, with Rachel Barnes KC, of ‘Caught in the Crosshairs of Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Measures: Informal Value Transfer Systems and Civil Asset Forfeiture’, a chapter in ‘Economic Sanctions from Havana to Baghdad’ (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2026).

Stephen Bailey advises and represents companies, individuals, and government departments in sanctions-related matters before English courts and arbitral tribunals. He is the co-author (with Rachel Barnes KC) of: ‘Shipping and Aircraft Sanctions’ in Sanctions Law and Practice (Oxford University Press, forthcoming); ‘UK financial sanctions enforcement’ in The Guide to Sanctions (GIR, 2025); and ‘Sanctions: challenging UK, UN and EU designations’ (PLC, 2024). Stephen’s sanctions practice is complemented by his wider practice in criminal law and public international law, as well as his expertise in INTERPOL. He is a co-author of the leading text on INTERPOL and has successfully acted for individuals before INTERPOL in connection with alleged sanctions offences. Before coming to the Bar, Stephen practised law at Davis Polk & Wardwell. He also taught contract law at the University of Cambridge, and public international law, criminal law, and public law at the University of Edinburgh.

Charlotte Branfield joined the Bar after 10 years in banking, including nearly 9 years at Citibank where she led strategy and governance globally for Citi’s business services and products as part of Citi’s Transformation under CEO Jane Fraser, and was Global Head of Operational Resilience from 2019 through the Covid-19 pandemic. She previously led the CISO team responsible for cybersecurity strategy, governance, regulatory engagement, policies, standards, and Board, senior manager and employee training. Between 2013-2015, Charlotte led work on international financial centres in Moscow, Istanbul and Kazakhstan, and was involved in creating and supporting various financial crime initiatives between banks, law enforcement and government including the NCA’s Joint Anti-Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce. Charlotte’s practice at the Bar focuses on sanctions; government and regulatory investigations; white collar crime; asset freezing, forfeiture and recovery (incl. Proceeds of Crime Act); contentious financial services regulatory; shareholder disputes; civil fraud; and related areas such as professional discipline (FCA, SRA, FRC, ICAEW) and judicial review.