Anthony Lewis is Co-Head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s National Security Practice, a member of the Firm’s Criminal Defense and Investigations Group, and Co-Head of the Firm’s Cybersecurity Practice. His practice focuses on international and government investigations and on cybersecurity incident response and advice.
A former supervisor in the National Security Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Mr. Lewis has particular expertise with matters involving economic and financial crime, sanctions, technology transfer and export controls, cryptocurrencies, cybercrime, counterintelligence and other areas that implicate national security concerns for corporate clients and financial institutions. Mr. Lewis has represented clients in internal investigations and regulatory enforcement proceedings, including with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and with financial regulators. He has advised clients in a wide range of industries, including aerospace and defense, technology, industrials, financial services and consumer goods.
Widely recognized for his work in counterintelligence, cybersecurity, and defense, Mr. Lewis received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service twice as well as recognition from the U.S. Intelligence Community. He was also named to Cybersecurity Docket’s “Incident Response 50” for a third consecutive year, a list which honors the 50 “best data breach response lawyers in the country” and has been recognized by Lawdragon as one of the “500 Leading Litigators in America” and one of the “500 Leading Global Cyber Lawyers.”
Mr. Lewis previously served on Law360’s Aerospace & Defense Editorial Advisory Board. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the Central District of California.
Government Service
Mr. Lewis joined the Firm in 2019 from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, where he was Deputy Chief of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section. During more than 10 years of service, he prosecuted violations of U.S. sanctions and export controls, espionage and economic espionage, sophisticated cybercrimes, and financial frauds and criminal tax cases. Mr. Lewis practiced, supervised, and trained other prosecutors regarding the Classified Information Procedures Act, and he litigated classified issues involving the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in the district court and the Ninth Circuit. He has conducted and supervised investigations and prosecutions involving OFAC-administered sanctions, the BIS-administered Export Administration Regulations, and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. He also led the U.S. Attorney’s Office Export and Anti-proliferation Global Law Enforcement Task Force that coordinated the efforts of multiple government agencies in investigating and prosecuting export and sanctions offenses.
Mr. Lewis’ experience includes charging a North Korean state-sponsored conspiracy responsible for the largest-ever cyber heist at Bangladesh’s central bank, the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, and the WannaCry ransomware. He also investigated and charged an employee of a defense contractor with economic espionage and violations of the Arms Export Control Act for stealing and selling export-controlled and trade-secret satellite technology, and worked closely with defense contractors in counterintelligence matters. Additionally, Mr. Lewis was part of the litigating team seeking to compel Apple to decrypt an iPhone used by a terrorist in the San Bernardino attack.
