Cryptocurrencies and Sanctions

Speakers (from left to right): 

John Roth, Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer, Bittrex; Former Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Daniel Glaser, Senior Advisor, FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power; Principal, Financial Integrity Network

Yaya J. Fanusie, Adjunct Fellow, FDD

The Hon. Juan C. Zarate, Chairman and Co-Founder, FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power; Former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, U.S. Department of Treasury

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance hosted a by-invitation-only breakfast conversation on Cryptocurrencies and Sanctions on Tuesday, April 24, 2018, from 9:00am to 10:30am.

CSIF experts have been analyzing the potential illicit uses of cryptocurrencies by U.S. adversaries. A recent report by Yaya J. Fanusie, co-authored by Elliptic, provides the first public domain analysis of how digital currency is laundered around the world. To better understand this phenomena, experts discussed how sanctions and regulation are being impacted by digital currencies. What implications will this have for state actors looking to skirt U.S. and global economic sanctions? How can policymakers be sure the current financial regulatory framework remains effective?

We heard from experts Yaya J. Fanusie, CSIF’s Director of Analysis and Daniel L. Glaser, Member, CSIF’s Board of Advisors, Principal, Financial Integrity Network, and former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the Department of the Treasury; and John Roth, Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer at Bittrex, and former Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security. The conversation was moderated by Juan C. Zarate, CSIF’s Chairman and Senior Counselor and former Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism.

Cryptocurrencies and Sanctions
A conversation with Yaya J. Fanusie and Daniel L. Glaser, and John Roth
moderated by Juan C. Zarate

Tuesday, April 24, 2018
9:00am – 10:30am

Yaya J. Fanusie is the Director of Analysis for FDD’s Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance. Mr. Fanusie spent seven years as both an economic and counterterrorism analyst in the CIA, where he regularly briefed White House-level policy makers, U.S. military personnel, and federal law enforcement. In 2008, he personally briefed President George W. Bush on terrorism threats, and in 2009, he spent three months in Afghanistan providing analytic support to senior military officials. After government service, Mr. Fanusie worked with a small consulting firm where he led a team of analysts working on a multi-billion-dollar recovery effort involving a global corruption ring. Most recently, he also operated his own consulting practice training firms specializing in strategic analysis and business due-diligence.

Daniel L. Glaser is a Principal with the Financial Integrity Network and serves on the Board of Advisors of the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance (CSIF) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Glaser previously served as Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence from May 2011 through January 2017. As Assistant Secretary, Mr. Glaser was responsible for helping to formulate and coordinate counter-terrorist financing and anti-money laundering policies and strategies for the Department. Mr. Glaser served previously as Treasury’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes from November 2004 to May 2011. He was responsible for developing and coordinating policies to protect the U.S. and international financial systems from abuse related to money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Glaser also served as the Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Prior to that position, Mr. Glaser served as the first Director of the Treasury Department’s Executive Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes and as Senior Counsel for Financial Crimes in the Office of the General Counsel. He also served as an attorney for the U.S. Secret Service.

John Roth has been Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer at Bittrex since December 2017. Before joining Bittrex, Mr. Roth served as Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security for more than three years. He worked in the federal government for over three decades, including 25 years at the Department of Justice. He worked as a prosecutor at the Justice Department, including serving as chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General and as section chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section among other senior roles in the Criminal Division. He capped his Justice Department tenure as the lead representative on the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organization fighting against money laundering and terrorist financing. Mr. Roth also served in a senior capacity for the congressionally chartered 9/11 Commission and helped to compile a monograph on terrorist financing for the commission’s final report.

Juan C. Zarate serves as Chairman and Senior Counselor of the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance (CSIF) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Chairman and Co-Founder of the Financial Integrity Network. He is also Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Senior National Security Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and Visiting Lecturer of Law at the Harvard Law School. Mr. Zarate served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism from 2005 to 2009, and was responsible for developing and implementing all aspects of the U.S. government’s counterterrorism strategy, including countering violent extremism and weapons of mass destruction. In this role, he was also responsible for U.S. strategy to address transnational threats, including international organized crime, hostage policy, and critical energy-infrastructure protection. He was the first-ever Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, where he led domestic and international efforts to counter terrorist financing, the strategic use of financial power against America’s enemies, and the global hunt for Saddam Hussein’s assets.