Aisling O’Shea is a co-head of the Firm’s FCPA and Anti-Corruption Group and a member of the Criminal Defense and Investigations Group and the Litigation Group. Her practice focuses on criminal defense, government investigations and the FCPA. She has extensive experience in conducting internal investigations and defending clients in criminal and regulatory matters related to corruption, money laundering, securities fraud and other forms of financial fraud, tax evasion, and criminal antitrust. Ms. O’Shea advises clients on FCPA and anti-corruption issues, including FCPA-related transactional issues and corporate compliance programs and internal controls. She has represented financial institutions, multinational corporations and executives in investigations and enforcement actions by numerous government authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, various U.S. Attorney’s Offices, various bank regulators, and the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Ms. O’Shea is a leader in her field. She serves as national co-chair of the American Bar Association’s White Collar Crime Committee and frequently authors articles and speaks at events related to the FCPA, anti-corruption and enforcement trends. She has been recognized by Global Investigations Review, Who’s Who Legal, Chambers Global and Chambers USA for her work.
Government Service
Ms. O’Shea rejoined the Firm in 2017 after more than five years of service as a trial attorney in the FCPA Unit of the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, where she focused on the investigation and prosecution of corporations and individuals related to FCPA violations, money laundering, securities and healthcare fraud, tax evasion and other complex economic crimes. Over the course of her tenure at the DOJ, Ms. O’Shea worked closely with every major U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agency, as well as in coordination with other government agencies, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, FinCEN and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and numerous foreign law enforcement and regulatory authorities. She also conducted trainings for U.S. and foreign law enforcement authorities related to the FCPA and money laundering.
As a federal prosecutor, Ms. O’Shea led a complex FCPA and money-laundering investigation into corruption at Venezuela’s state-owned and controlled oil company and successfully prosecuted more than twenty individuals, including several former Venezuelan officials, in connection with the investigation. The case, which won Homeland Security Investigations’ 2016 award for Outstanding Financial Investigation, resulted in the most individual convictions for a single FCPA matter. She also successfully prosecuted two former financial institution executives, and reached a resolution with the financial institution, for conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.
Prior to her government service, Ms. O’Shea was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell where she also focused on complex financial investigations.
