Compliance and Corporate Investigations
Advising financial institutions and international companies on compliance matters, AFFAKI counsels on French, European and international bribery, economic sanctions, and market conduct compliance standards and can guide its clients through any investigation or enforcement action.
The Firm’s experience spans both in-house and external counsel roles, allowing us to confidently lead complex compliance investigation and get our clients through enforcement proceedings. Our professional services comprise the establishment and direction of multidisciplinary in-house, external counsel, and consultant teams in charge of conducting internal investigations, voluntary disclosures, and the management of parallel international proceedings.
We offer our clients a full suite of advice on cross-border economic sanctions, know-your-customer diligence rules, blocking statutes, and data protection requirements on a global scale.
Georges Affaki is a frequent speaker at seminars on compliance and regulatory issues.
Significant Representations
- Advising the French branch of a foreign bank in the matter of complex criminal proceedings, opposing a French criminal court-issued subpoena seeking to obtain protected data held abroad, and successfully arguing the case for an international voluntary initiative leading to the obtainment of the sought data through the application of a bilateral mutual legal assistance treaty.
- Coordinating and running an internal investigation in several affiliates of a leading financial institution in relation to alleged breaches of US economic sanction regulations, leading to a global settlement agreement and a deferred prosecution agreement.
- Regularly advising financial institutions, trading firms, and industrial companies on E.U., U.S., and international sanctions-related issues, including establishing and auditing global compliance systems.
