Alexander J. Wilson, former Chief of the Money Laundering & Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, has joined Jones Day as a partner in the Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice. Mr. Wilson will be based in the New York Office.

Mr. Wilson spent the last 12 years at the Department of Justice, serving in a variety of roles within the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. As Chief of the Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit, and before that as Chief of the then-Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit, Mr. Wilson directed the investigation and prosecution of corporations and individuals involved in money laundering-related offenses; criminal violations of U.S. economic sanctions; anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; cryptocurrency-related offenses; as well as bank, securities and health care frauds, and a wide range of other high stakes white collar criminal matters. Mr. Wilson also served as the office's principal advisor and supervisor on all asset forfeiture matters.

"Alex brings to Jones Day a wealth of experience with conducting government investigations and overseeing federal prosecutions relating to virtually every type of white-collar criminal enforcement activity," said Ted Chung, leader of Jones Day's Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice. "This hands-on experience will be a valuable asset for helping to shape our clients' legal defense strategies and for overseeing internal investigations. We are pleased to welcome him to Jones Day."

Among other groundbreaking cases, Mr. Wilson oversaw the first U.S. indictment of a foreign bank for U.S. sanctions violations, the first U.S. prosecutions of AML violations by a broker-dealer and a cryptocurrency exchange, the first U.S. prosecutions for violations of Ukraine-related sanctions, the investigation of the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers leak, and the investigation of an online California cannabis delivery company for bank fraud. Mr. Wilson also personally led various major corporate criminal investigations, including the investigation of sanctions violations by a global bank and AML violations by a Korean bank.

"Alex has cultivated an excellent reputation in the New York legal community as a skilled practitioner and an experienced prosecutor with an understanding of complex white-collar criminal law," said Leon DeJulius Jr., Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day's New York Office. "He is an important addition to our deep bench of former government prosecutors at Jones Day and we look forward to his contributions to our team here in New York."

Mr. Wilson joins a team at Jones Day that has helped clients with many of the most significant U.S. and cross-border investigations and white-collar criminal defense matters in recent decades. He will work alongside a global team of experienced lawyers to defend companies and individuals against allegations relating to all areas of white-collar crime, including internal investigations and compliance reviews, federal and state investigations, enforcement actions and criminal prosecutions, and regulatory issues.

"I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked on the cutting edge of cross-border and corporate investigations with the Justice Department for the past dozen years, and I look forward to applying that experience to advising clients on their legal obligations and issues in an increasingly challenging regulatory and enforcement environment," said Mr. Wilson. "Government enforcement action is increasing in key areas such as sanctions, anti-money laundering, securities litigation, and financial fraud. Jones Day is uniquely qualified to serve clients worldwide that are facing increased challenges in the current enforcement environment, particularly with its cross-jurisdictional coordination by lawyers with regulatory and enforcement experience throughout the world, and I am delighted to join their global team."

Mr. Wilson began his legal career as a Law Clerk to The Hon. Paul A. Crotty, U.S. District Judge in New York, and was a litigation associate in the New York office of a global law firm, where he participated in the defense of clients involved with insider trading and securities fraud investigations and litigation.

Mr. Wilson earned his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.