Government Experience

  • Department of the Treasury—Sanctions Officer, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), 2012-2014

Education

  • The George Washington University, B.A. International Affairs (2008) magna cum laude
  • The George Washington University, M.A. International Economic Policy (2013)
  • The George Washington University, J.D. (2013)

Admissions

  • New York
  • New Jersey

Nicole Sayegh Succar

Counsel
nsuccar@crowell.com
+1.212.803.4031

Nicole Sayegh Succar is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s New York office. She is a member of the firm’s International Trade Group and works closely with White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement Group. Nicole provides compliance counseling and investigations services related to U.S. economic sanctions, and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and anti-money laundering laws (AML) and regulations. Nicole is a former sanctions officer with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the U.S. Treasury Department agency responsible for administering and enforcing economic sanctions. While at OFAC, Nicole handled complex matters relating to U.S. sanctions against Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Syria.

Before joining Crowell & Moring, Nicole served as a senior vice president and head of U.S. economic sanctions advisory and previously a vice president in the financial crimes division, for one of the world’s largest international financial institutions. In her most recent role, she was responsible for sanctions advisory for the U.S. institution’s business units including global, domestic, private, retail and wealth management banking services. Her responsibilities included management of the bank’s response to sanctions issues related to customers and complex transactions and deals, drafting of responses to OFAC, including voluntary self-disclosures and administrative subpoena responses, and training of staff globally on U.S. Sanctions.

During her time in the financial services industry, Nicole also built key financial crimes compliance capabilities including robust policies, procedures, and due diligence processes, which were adopted across the global organization. Nicole’s success with the U.S. program earned her international assignments as the Asia regional head of sanctions and Latin America regional head of sanctions, where Nicole managed teams of compliance advisory, investigations and screening operations personnel, as well as the implementation of key compliance systems for customer and transaction screening. Through those assignments, Nicole gained invaluable experiences in implementing and managing a global financial crime compliance program across diverse international markets.

In her roles, Nicole also frequently interacted with, and provided formal responses regarding the state of the institution’s financial crimes compliance program, to OFAC, the Federal Reserve Board, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and a monitor appointed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

With her background at OFAC and financial institution experiences, Nicole offers a strong combination of insightful in-government and private industry experience in sanctions compliance that allows clients to pursue innovative and practical solutions to sanctions and other financial crimes issues.

Nicole has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a "Rising Star" in international trade since 2022.


Recognition

  • Super Lawyers: "Rising Star," International Trade, 2022

Affiliations

Professional Activities and Memberships

  • Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY)
  • United States Council for International Business (USCIB)
  • Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS)—New York Chapter Member, Frequent Event Speaker
  • Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists (ACSS)—Member, Government Relations Task Force

Speeches & Presentations


Publications


Client Alerts & Newsletters


Press Coverage