Business

Sergio Fernando Moro’s appointment expands the firm’s disputes, investigations, and compliance consulting capabilities and offerings.

Mr. Moro’s hire aligns with A&M’s strategic commitment to develop solutions to complex disputes, investigations, and compliance issues by offering A&M’s clients and their counsel the expertise of former senior government officials.

Mr. Moro specializes in leading high-profile and complex anti-corruption, white-collar crime, anti-money laundering and organized crime investigations as well as advising clients on strategy and proactive regulatory compliance. His hire builds on A&M’s bench strength of former government officials’ appointments, including Steve Spiegelhalter (former U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor), Bill Waldie (retired FBI Special Agent), Anita Alvarez (former Cook County State’s Attorney, Chicago, IL), Robert DeCicco (former civilian employee of the National Security Agency), Paul Sharma (former Deputy Head of the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority) and Suzanne Maughan (former lead investigator with the Financial Conduct Authority’s Enforcement and Financial Crime Division and seconded investigator to the Serious Fraud Office).

Mr. Moro brings more than 20 years of legal and investigative experience, including serving as the Minister of Justice and Public Security of Brazil from 2019-2020. As Minister, he developed special programs to reduce violent crimes and protect Brazil’s frontiers and was responsible for the drafting and enactment of federal laws around seizing and expropriating assets related to drug trafficking and other serious criminal activity. He also created a special channel of communication between the private sector and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security to help facilitate communication of alleged wrongdoing.

Prior to this, Mr. Moro served as a Brazilian Federal Judge for more than 20 years. During his tenure, he served as the presiding judge in complex Brazil-based and international criminal cases including Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato), a massive criminal investigation in Brazil that began as a money laundering case and evolved into a far-reaching corruption crackdown, involving bribery and misappropriation of public funds by high political authorities. Lava Jato generated an anti-corruption wave not only in Brazil but in all Latin America. Both as a Minister and as a Federal judge, Mr. Moro collaborated closely with authorities from countries across Latin America, North America and Europe relating to investigating international criminal cases around bribery, money laundering, drug trafficking and organized crime.

Steve Spiegelhalter, an A&M Managing Director and North America Investigations Practice Leader, said, “We strive to incorporate into our investigations our Managing Directors’ unique regulatory, prosecutorial, and law enforcement experience — driving focus on what matters to regulators, increasing efficiency, and reducing cost. Sergio’s experience as Brazil’s Minister of Justice and Public Security along with his extensive anti-corruption, white-collar crime and anti-money laundering experience will reinforce our ability to address clients’ issues.”