Law firm Crowell & Moring has hired former chief counsel to the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Jason Prince to advise financial institutions on compliance with sanctions and export controls.

Describing Prince as one of the “key legal architects of US sanctions on Russia”, Carlton Greene, chair of Crowell’s financial services group, says that the new hire will be able to “translate the complex regulations and sanctions for financial institutions and companies that devote substantial time and effort to trying to make contact with and get answers from OFAC”.

Based in Washington, DC, Prince will be a partner in Crowell’s international trade and financial services practices, where he will guide clients on complying with sanctions and export controls as well as internal investigations and voluntary self‐disclosures.

In his chief counsel role, Prince led OFAC’s implementation and enforcement of sanctions programmes against nations including Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

He also oversaw the legal design of new sanctions and led a review of “all major OFAC enforcement, compliance, licensing, litigation and regulatory actions”, Crowell says in a statement.

“Jason has stand-out sanctions credentials due to his senior role at OFAC during a pivotal period and his years of private practice experience,” adds Nicole Simonian, co-chair of the firm’s international trade group.

“He was at the eye of the sanctions hurricane after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, helping to design the largest, fastest expansion of sanctions in our nation’s history,” she says.

Before joining the Treasury department, Prince worked at law firms Holland & Hart and Stoel Rives, with a focus on sanctions and anti-corruption compliance.