Alston & Bird has expanded its international trade and regulatory capabilities with the addition of Thomas Feddo as partner in the firm’s Washington, DC, office.
Feddo comes to Alston & Bird from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he spent seven years in the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the agency charged with implementing and enforcing U.S. economic sanctions.
Most recently, he served for more than five years as OFAC’s assistant director for enforcement. In that role, he was responsible for managing enforcement resources and investigations across more than 30 different economic sanctions programs, including overseeing the issuance of administrative subpoenas, cease and desist orders, cautionary letters and monetary penalties, as well as making criminal referrals and negotiating settlements. He also served as OFAC’s senior liaison with other federal law enforcement agencies – including various elements of the U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce and State, as well as U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide.
“As one of OFAC’s most senior supervisory attorneys during a period of unprecedented enforcement actions, Tom knows as much as anyone in Washington today about the agency’s enforcement processes, procedures and regulations,” said Jason Waite, Alston & Bird partner and leader of its International Trade & Regulatory Group. “His intimate understanding of OFAC’s enforcement decisions and how its regulations have been interpreted and applied will strengthen our extremely active sanctions practice in which we are advising clients in the insurance, transportation, banking, health care, aerospace, technology, chemicals, oil and gas, heavy equipment and other industries on compliance, enforcement and the historic changes unfolding within OFAC’s sanctions programs. He joins us at the perfect time.”
In addition to his OFAC credentials, Feddo has significant experience in congressional investigations, having served as majority counsel to the U.S. House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee. As part of his almost four-year tenure as counsel, he carried out jurisdiction-wide congressional oversight of a broad range of issues related to energy, the environment, telecommunications, consumer protection, trade, homeland security and public health.
High-profile investigations and hearings that he organized and supervised as lead counsel or co-counsel include the Hewlett-Packard boardroom spying scandal, waste and fraud in the FCC’s E-rate program, BP’s oil pipeline spills at Prudhoe Bay and the U.N. Oil-for-Food controversy.
Feddo’s career also includes a stint as special assistant to the general counsel of the U.S. Navy, advising on legal and policy matters across a broad range of general business and commercial law for the Navy, Marine Corps and Navy Secretariat. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he served as a lieutenant in the Navy’s nuclear submarine force and as an officer at the Navy Antiterrorist Alert Center, where he provided analysis and intelligence information on terrorist threats to globally deployed units of the Navy and Marine Corps. Following his naval service and graduation from George Washington University Law School, Feddo clerked with the Hon. James T. Turner of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
“Compliance with the web of economic sanctions laws that have proliferated over the past two decades, and that have grown far more complex still over the last few years, is an increasingly critical challenge facing many transnational businesses,” said Dennis Garris, partner in charge of Alston & Bird’s Washington office. “Tom’s extraordinary experience and insight regarding every aspect of U.S. sanctions law, coupled with his deep knowledge of other government investigative and enforcement agencies, will be of immense value to our clients both nationally and globally.”
Feddo’s arrival continues the recent growth of Alston & Bird’s International Trade & Regulatory Group. His addition also marks the continued growth of the firm’s DC office. In January, the office added Ted Schroeder as counsel in its Legislative & Public Policy Group and last year welcomed antitrust partner John Snyder and litigation partner Daniel Jarcho.