Biography
Leo Tsao is a partner in the Fintech & Payments and Investigations & White Collar Defense practices at Paul Hastings and is based in the firms Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Tsao's practice focuses on internal corporate investigations, defense of criminal and regulatory enforcement actions, and compliance counseling. Before Paul Hastings, Mr. Tsao served for more than 15 years as a white collar prosecutor with the Department of Justice (DOJ), where he led or supervised many of the DOJs most significant corporate cases involving the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and other white collar crimes.Most recently, Mr. Tsao served as the Principal Deputy Chief of the DOJs Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and as Chief of MLARSs Bank Integrity Unit. At MLARS, he was responsible for overseeing the DOJs enforcement program against financial institutions for BSA, money laundering, and similar violations, including criminal charges, deferred prosecution agreements, and non-prosecution agreements involving financial institutions. In particular, Mr. Tsao helped lead the DOJs enforcement efforts with respect to crimes involving cryptocurrency and FinTech companies, and was involved in drafting the DOJs Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework. Mr. Tsao has worked in close coordination with many domestic regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Mr. Tsao was also responsible for helping to oversee the DOJs national Asset Forfeiture Program.Before MLARS, Mr. Tsao spent three years as an Assistant Deputy Chief in the Fraud Sections FCPA Unit and eight years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. While at the DOJ, Mr. Tsao helped develop enforcement policies on corporate investigations, compliance, monitorships, charging decisions, and resolutions. Mr. Tsao has also served as lead trial counsel in 10 criminal trials and has argued and/or briefed numerous criminal appeals.