Foley Hoag has extensive experience defending clients against government enforcement actions and investigations related to international trade matters including alleged trade and customs fraud, tariff evasion, sanctions violations, export control violations, violations of the material support statutes, and dealings with cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and foreign terrorist organizations. Our practitioners also provide preventative counseling and guidance on compliance program enhancements to companies of all sizes with international operations. With law enforcement agencies around the world, including in the U.S. and EU, increasingly focusing on international trade enforcement, it is more important now than ever to have a trusted advisor to help navigate trade-related risks.

Foley Hoag lawyers have decades of experience counseling clients in these areas, including:

• Representing companies and financial institutions and their boards and executives in complex criminal investigations and related civil proceedings brought by U.S. or non-U.S. regulators including the Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls Compliance (DDTC).
• Advising U.S. importers on CBP audits and on-site visits and conducting Prior Disclosures on behalf of companies before CBP.
• Advising U.S. importers on the applicability of IEEPA based tariffs and possible challenges to those tariffs.
• Conducting confidential internal investigations concerning allegations of trade-related violations and advising clients on effective responses including assessing the advisability of submitting voluntary self-disclosures.
• Assisting clients in assessing compliance risks and developing and implementing compliance policies and practices tailored to their unique business needs.
• Providing international trade compliance training to companies in a variety of industries.

Our team consists of nationally recognized and ranked lawyers who have a wealth of, and varied, experience in trade-related matters. Our attorneys include alumni of the U.S. Department of Justice as well as state enforcement agencies. Our lawyers have extensive highly successful trial experience in federal and state courts across the country. We also regularly partner with a strong global network of respected local legal and investigative resources. In addition, team members have worked in-house at some of the world’s largest companies helping to develop and manage trade compliance programs and to respond to government investigations, including assisting in the self-disclosure of potential trade violations. Leveraging this practical experience, we work closely with our clients to tailor our approach to clients’ business needs and organizational culture and structure.