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Practising Law Institute (PLI)’s FinTech 2025

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MoFo partners Deb Connor and David Newman will join PLI for its fintech program on December 5, 2025. Deb, co-chair of the...

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MoFo partners Deb Connor and David Newman will join PLI for its fintech program on December 5, 2025. Deb, co-chair of the program, will provide the opening remarks for the day and lead the panel titled “FinTech Regulatory Enforcement Updates” at 10:00 a.m. ET, which will discuss the most significant enforcement actions of 2025 and what to expect in 2026.David will speak on “The Department of Justice’s Data Security Program: Where Things Stand and What Comes Next” panel at 3:45 p.m. ET, which will explore the Department of Justice’s new Data Security Program (DSP) that went into effect earlier this year and address the U.S. national-security risks posed by the continued efforts of U.S. adversaries to use commercial activities and agreements to access and exploit Americans’ bulk sensitive personal data.PLI’s fintech program will address the most significant enforcement actions of 2025 and important takeaways for 2026; recent developments in crypto, including areas of major regulatory change and the implications of these developments for trading, markets, and market regulation; digital asset topics that impact investment funds and investment advisors, including SEC staff guidance, SEC Crypto Task Force roundtables, industry contributions, and SEC rulemaking and congressional efforts; how new technologies, partnerships, and regulations are reshaping traditional banking, payments, and fintechs; and the Department of Justice’s new DSP. For more information and event registration, visit the <a href="https://www.pli.edu/programs/fintech/416085" target="_blank">event website</a>.<hr>

Practising Law Institute (PLI)’s FinTech 2025

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Deborah L. Connor, former chief of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), is a partner in MoFo’s Investigations + White Collar Defense Group. With more than 25 years of service at DOJ, most recently leading its anti-money laundering (AML)/Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) enforcement, Deborah is a leading authority in criminal AML/BSA matters. Drawing upon her unmatched experience in criminal investigations, litigation, and enforcement, Deborah focuses on guiding financial institutions, multinational companies, and individuals through cross-border internal investigations, regulatory enforcement defense, white collar criminal defense, and compliance counseling involving legal issues pertaining to sanctions, anti-corruption, AML/BSA, and cryptocurrency, among others.As chief and principal deputy chief of MLARS, Deborah supervised investigations and prosecutions of numerous high-profile cases involving allegations of corporate and financial misconduct and resolutions involving deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements in relation to financial institutions and emerging technologies in the financial services markets, as well as blockchain-based digital assets. As chief, she exercised supervisory authority over the DOJ’s AML program, specifically any charges involving violations of BSA statutes. Deborah has worked with domestic regulators, including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, as well as enforcement officials throughout the federal government, including the Departments of State, Commerce, and Treasury. She was also responsible for helping to oversee the Department’s Asset Forfeiture Program. Deborah also served as senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division.Prior to joining the Criminal Division, Deborah had a distinguished 16-year career as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where she held several leadership positions and supervised hundreds of prosecutors. In her last five years with the office, Deborah served as chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, where she supervised the office’s white collar prosecutions including complex AML and sanctions evasion investigations and prosecutions against global financial institutions and their employees, civil and criminal forfeiture cases, and major financial fraud actions involving corporations and government agencies. As a criminal prosecutor, Deborah has investigated a broad range of white collar and other federal criminal matters, tried over 40 criminal trials in both D.C. Superior and Federal Courts, supervised more than 100 criminal trials, and briefed and argued criminal appeals. Deborah began her career at DOJ as a civil trial attorney in the Antitrust Division’s former Computers and Finance Section.Deborah received numerous awards while at DOJ, including five Special Achievement Awards, and the United States Attorney’s Star Award in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. During her time at the Criminal Division, Ms. Connor twice received the Assistant Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award and the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service. In 2021, Deborah was named one of Global Investigations Review’s (GIR) Top 100 Women in Investigations.Prior to joining DOJ, Deborah was a litigation associate at a large D.C.-based law firm, and before entering the practice of law, she joined a large Chicago-based commercial bank, where she served as a relationship manager for U.S. subsidiaries of multinational corporations.Deborah is a frequent speaker on AML and financial crimes enforcement. She has participated as a keynote speaker or panelist at conferences such as the American Bar Association’s (ABA) National Institute on White Collar Crime, ABA’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference, the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists’ (ACAMS) Annual AML & Anti-Financial Crime Conference, the Practising Law Institute, and the American Gaming Association.Deborah received her J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served on the Georgetown Law Journal as a notes editor. She received her B.A. from Miami University of Ohio.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Supervised the investigation and resolution of a matter involving a global financial institution and its European subsidiary related to fraud on financial investors. The matter resulted in a deferred prosecution agreement with the parent and a guilty plea with a subsidiary, guilty pleas of three employees, financial penalties, fines, and disgorgement.</li><li>Supervised the investigation and resolution of a matter involving a global financial institution and a foreign subsidiary in connection with bond deal underwriting. The matter resulted in a deferred prosecution agreement, a guilty plea for a subsidiary, financial penalties, and the conviction of two former high-level employees.</li><li>Supervised the investigation and resolution of a matter involving a foreign sovereign wealth fund, as part of the misappropriation of over $4.5 billion from the fund. The matter resulted in seizures of over $1.7 billion in assets as part of a civil forfeiture recovery.</li><li>Supervised the investigation and resolution of a matter involving a foreign financial institution related to a money laundering conspiracy in connection with a bribery scheme. The matter resulted in a deferred prosecution agreement, financial penalties, forfeiture, and the guilty pleas of two employees.</li><li>Supervised the investigation and resolution of a matter involving a foreign financial institution related to the processing of transactions in violation of U.S. sanctions. The matter resulted in a parent-level guilty plea and a non-prosecution agreement with a subsidiary, in addition to forfeiture.</li></ul>

Deborah Connor

Partner

David Newman serves as co-chair of the firm’s National Security and Crisis Management practices, drawing upon his deep experience in private practice and as a senior U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and White House official to represent clients in high stakes matters involving national security, geopolitical risk, emerging technology, and crisis management. David also leads the firm’s interdisciplinary Government Strategies group.A former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security (PDAAG) and Associate Deputy Attorney General, David advises companies navigating cybersecurity incidents, sanctions and export control enforcement, Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) reviews, and Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) investigations. He has extensive experience conducting internal and government-facing cross-border investigations and representing clients in congressional inquiries and hearings.David co-founded the firm’s innovative Crisis Management practice nearly a decade ago, serving as a go-to resource for clients facing legal scrutiny by government agencies around the world. Drawing on his background working on complex and sensitive matters in private practice and at the highest levels of the U.S. government, he understands how regulators and prosecutors think, enabling him to provide highly strategic counsel to clients across a broad range of industries. He has frequently served as a liaison between clients and government agencies, including DOJ, the FBI, and other U.S. national security and intelligence agencies, and counseled clients on emerging regulation involving new technologies. For his work advising companies on how to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, he was named a <a href="/resources/news/200901-national-law-journal-david-newman" target="_self">“Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal</a> in 2020. With the change in administration in 2021, David returned to DOJ to serve in a “day one” leadership role. From 2021 to 2022, he served as Associate Deputy Attorney General. From 2022 to 2025, he served as PDAAG, DOJ’s second highest-ranking national security official, supervising the work of nearly 300 career attorneys in DOJ’s National Security Division (NSD) with engagement across virtually all aspects of NSD’s portfolio, including supervision of DOJ’s criminal enforcement programs for sanctions, export controls, counterterrorism, counterespionage, and FARA. During his tenure, NSD created the “NatSecCyber” section, the first new litigating section in NSD’s history with a mission to centralize DOJ’s prosecutions and disruptions of national security cyber threats emanating from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea (among other U.S. adversaries); restructured and expanded NSD’s corporate enforcement program; and spearheaded the U.S. government’s approach to countering the threats posed by foreign adversary access to Americans’ sensitive bulk data. In addition to his work supervising investigations and prosecutions, David served for more than two years as DOJ’s regular representative to Assistant Secretary meetings of CFIUS; represented DOJ at dozens of National Security Council (NSC) meetings; and led administration-wide initiatives involving emerging technology, bulk data security, and countering foreign malign influence and transnational repression. In private practice, David has routinely advised clients on cybersecurity and data privacy matters including sensitive issues involving incident preparedness and response, emerging technology regulation, and economic espionage. In 2024, he delivered the capstone address at the U.S. Cyber Command Annual Legal Conference, in which he highlighted DOJ’s work countering nation state cyber threats. He has testified before Congress on the threats to national security posed by emerging technology, including serving as lead briefer for an all Member briefing on proposed legislation to address the national security risks posed by TikTok and other foreign adversary-controlled social media applications. He also served as the U.S. government’s lead representative in international meetings and initiatives to address the evolving threat landscape of foreign malign influence and transnational repression. Named several years ago as one of the top “40 under 40” figures in the data law bar around the world by Global Data Review, David’s commentary and thought leadership on law and technology have appeared in and been quoted in CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Corporate Counsel, Ethisphere, and Wired Magazine, among other publications. A former law clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court, David is routinely asked to advise clients on both the near-term and long-term implications of unsettled legal questions at the intersection of law and emerging technology.David’s practice also extends to advising on congressional oversight matters related to national security and emerging technology, including responding to congressional inquiries on behalf of large, multinational companies and preparing individuals for interviews and testimony in connection with congressional hearings and investigations. While in private practice, David advised leading company executives and other prominent individuals related to high-profile hearings and investigations of the Senate and House Judiciary Committee, among other congressional committees. In his positions in government, David regularly briefed congressional members and staff on sensitive national security developments and coordinated briefings and responses to congressional inquiries involving administration priorities.Earlier in his career, David held key national security legal and policy posts at the White House, including serving as Special Assistant and Associate Counsel to President Obama (2015–2017) and in multiple roles on the NSC staff (2013–2015). Throughout his tenure at the White House, David played a central role in coordinating the administration’s response to domestic and international crises including serving as Director for Counterterrorism, Acting Deputy Legal Advisor, and as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Ebola Response Coordinator. In his White House posts, David regularly advised the president and other senior administration officials on a range of complex matters affecting the federal government and oversaw a broad portfolio that spanned national security priorities, crisis response and preparedness planning, new data and technology initiatives, criminal justice policy, and civil rights litigation. He also helped the National Security Council to coordinate the U.S. government’s response to the largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history.David began his Executive Branch tenure as a career attorney in DOJ’s NSD. In his role as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security from 2011 to 2013, David helped counsel senior officials within DOJ and across the U.S. government on a wide array of matters—from high profile terrorism investigations and litigation involving government surveillance programs to matters before CFIUS. Prior to his Executive Branch service, David clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and he also served as a litigator in private practice at an international law firm.David received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his B.A. summa cum laude from Columbia University.<h4>Selected Private Practice Matters</h4><ul><li>Advising a major U.S. telecommunications company that successfully obtained national security and other regulatory approvals at the federal and state levels in connection with a proposed merger.</li><li>Advising a major U.S. technology company facing exposure of sensitive customer information by a third-party vendor on its response to a vulnerability disclosure report.</li><li>Representing a leading U.S. company in a high-profile, multijurisdictional, government-facing bribery investigation in Africa.</li><li>Conducting cybersecurity tabletop exercises at the operator, executive, and board levels for Fortune 500 organizations in the healthcare, retail, and pharmaceutical sectors.</li><li>Counseling a major U.S. media company on cybersecurity matters.</li><li>Coordinating the work of an independent corporate compliance monitor for a large South American company in the wake of a multijurisdictional resolution with DOJ.</li><li>Advising a non-U.S. investor on CFIUS strategy and other regulatory issues arising out of a multi billion dollar investment in a major U.S. company.</li><li>Conducting pre-investment and pre-acquisition CFIUS due diligence in several multi-billion-dollar transactions in which a non-U.S. investor pursued positions in leading and emerging technology companies.</li></ul>

Practising Law Institute (PLI)’s FinTech 2025

05 Dec 2025 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST