On April 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “FinCEN NPRM”) to reform anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”) program requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) for all regulated financial institutions. In a parallel Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Banking Agency NPRM”), two of the three federal banking regulators — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) — proposed conforming amendments to the AML/CFT program rules for the banking entities they supervise, as did the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”). The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“FRB”) did not join the Banking Agency NPRM.

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Photo of Meghann Donahue Meghann Donahue

Meghann Donahue represents banks, nonbank financial institutions, and fintech companies in a broad range of enforcement, supervision, and regulatory matters involving federal and state banking agencies, including matters related to:    

Safety and soundness issues, anti-money laundering requirements, and UDAAP and other consumer compliance…

Meghann Donahue represents banks, nonbank financial institutions, and fintech companies in a broad range of enforcement, supervision, and regulatory matters involving federal and state banking agencies, including matters related to:    

Safety and soundness issues, anti-money laundering requirements, and UDAAP and other consumer compliance regulations;
Prudential regulatory matters, internal governance and controls, and risk management frameworks; and
Compliance with money transmission laws and licensing requirements.

Meghann is also active in the firm’s Fintech Initiative, through which she counsels clients on issues related to bank-fintech partnerships and regulatory compliance for innovative products and services. 

Before rejoining Covington in 2024, Meghann served as Associate General Counsel for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she supervised and conducted enforcement investigations of financial institutions, advised on enforcement actions arising out of bank examinations, and counseled bank examiners on matters involving a wide array of unsafe and unsound practices, regulatory violations, and remediation at supervised institutions. 

Meghann advised on dozens of public and nonpublic enforcement actions with financial institutions and led enforcement investigations resulting in the Federal Reserve’s first civil money penalties for anti-money laundering non-compliance and Volcker Rule violations. Meghann’s experience includes investigations and actions concerning Bank Secrecy Act and OFAC sanctions compliance, consumer compliance, risk management and internal controls, fraud, misconduct, and whistleblower complaints. Meghann routinely liaised with Federal Reserve Board enforcement officials and other domestic and international regulators, and she advised bank examiners on supervisory findings and bank regulatory developments. 

Meghann also managed a portfolio of litigations, subpoenas, and oversight inquiries related to New York Fed operations, including payments and foreign central bank accounts. She provided counsel on internal investigations and compliance-related matters and spearheaded the creation of New York Fed’s pro bono legal services program.

In addition to her work at Covington, Meghann serves on the Board of Trustees for the State YMCA of Michigan.

Photo of Nikhil Gore Nikhil Gore

Nikhil V. Gore represents financial institutions, sovereigns, and global corporations in investigations, disputes, and regulatory advocacy before U.S. and international financial services regulators.

As co-chair of Covington’s financial services investigations and government enforcement practice, Nikhil leads anti-financial crime investigations, as well as a…

Nikhil V. Gore represents financial institutions, sovereigns, and global corporations in investigations, disputes, and regulatory advocacy before U.S. and international financial services regulators.

As co-chair of Covington’s financial services investigations and government enforcement practice, Nikhil leads anti-financial crime investigations, as well as a wide range of financial institution governance, control, safety and soundness, and consumer and market conduct matters. He has served as lead counsel for multiple major financial institutions in safety-and-soundness matters before the OCC and Federal Reserve; secured unprecedented outcomes for community banks challenging FDIC supervisory and enforcement actions; and represented global banking institutions in anti-financial crime investigations in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Nikhil also counsels clients on a range of financial statutes and regulations, including those governing U.S. fiscal law and the investment and payment authorities of government agencies; the control of money laundering and the licensing of money transmission; and the combatting of terrorist financing.

In his disputes practice, Nikhil is part of the Covington team representing Ukraine in state-to-state arbitrations against the Russian Federation and was appointed by the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine to the Legal Task Force on Accountability for Russian War Crimes. He has handled treaty arbitrations and commercial disputes spanning Asia, Eastern Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Africa.

Photo of Gerald Hodgkins Gerald Hodgkins

Gerald Hodgkins has a broad securities enforcement practice focused on representing financial institutions, public companies and individuals in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the key financial regulators. A former Associate Director in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, Jerry…

Gerald Hodgkins has a broad securities enforcement practice focused on representing financial institutions, public companies and individuals in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the key financial regulators. A former Associate Director in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, Jerry has extensive experience in matters before the SEC, with particular focus on public company accounting and disclosure, broker-dealer and investment adviser regulation, and U.S. anti-corruption law. He also represents clients in matters before the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Since joining Covington in 2018, Jerry has represented or advised more than fifty Fortune 500 companies in matters involving the U.S. securities laws, including five Fortune 10 and ten Fortune 50 companies.  He also has represented or advised ten of the one hundred largest financial services firms in the U.S. as ranked by Fortune magazine. 

During his 20-year tenure at the SEC, Jerry oversaw more than 100 enforcement matters, covering the entire breadth of the SEC’s law enforcement authority. In addition to matters involving financial services regulation and public company oversight, Jerry oversaw multiple investigations involving insider trading, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and municipal securities regulation. The enforcement actions he oversaw included the largest penalty in SEC history for issuer reporting and disclosure fraud (SEC v. WorldCom), the first, and still largest, settlement involving the clawback of executive compensation under Section 304 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SEC v. William W. McGuire, M.D.), and the final dispositions in the SEC’s actions against former Enron officers, including summary judgment obtained by the SEC against Jeffrey K. Skilling, former Enron president, COO and CEO.

Jerry also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing individuals, including veterans, in a variety of unpaid matters. As part of his pro bono practice, Jerry regularly participates in client intake reviews for the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and Safe Passage Project. Jerry has also supervised pro bono representations through the National Veterans Legal Services Program, as well as immigration-related matters in coordination with the International Refugee Assistance Project and the ACLU of Southern California.

In 2023, Jerry was elected to a second term on the steering committee of the Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Community of the DC Bar. He frequently speaks at conferences and continuing education programs and has authored several articles focused on SEC enforcement.

In his free time, Jerry is principal trumpet for the Maryland-based Symphony of the Potomac.

Photo of Kristin Mace Kristin Mace

As the former Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Kristin Mace draws on her deep experience in government enforcement to represent and counsel companies, executives, and boards of directors in investigations and…

As the former Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Kristin Mace draws on her deep experience in government enforcement to represent and counsel companies, executives, and boards of directors in investigations and litigation. Kristin has extensive experience with matters involving anti-corruption and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA); export controls and sanctions compliance; healthcare fraud; securities fraud; anti-money laundering (AML); and the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Kristin represents entities and individuals before domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies and regulators, as well as in court. She also advises businesses and financial institutions on maintaining compliance with U.S. and international regulations, helping them operate effectively in global markets governed by complex laws and multiple oversight regimes.

Kristin spent more than a dozen years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and personally investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of criminal matters, many of which she tried to verdict and briefed and argued on appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Among other significant cases, Kristin was a member of the team that conducted the global investigation of corruption in international soccer, which resulted in groundbreaking charges in the FIFA cases against over 50 defendants from more than 20 countries and two jury trials.

As Chief of the Criminal Division, Kristin oversaw more than 115 Criminal Division Assistant U.S. Attorneys and all of the criminal investigations and cases in the Eastern District of New York. In that role, Kristin supervised significant and complex cases in such varied areas as white collar crime, public corruption, national security, cybercrime, money laundering, securities fraud, export controls, asset forfeiture, transnational organized crime, civil rights, and criminal appeals.

Prior to her government service, Kristin clerked for the Honorable Virginia A. Phillips of the Central District of California and the Honorable Joel M. Flaum of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. For several years, Kristin has taught a course on Federal Criminal Justice at Columbia Law School and serves on the Board of Advisors of NYU Law School’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement (PCCE).

Watch: Kristin and colleague Alex Langton discuss DOJ FARA enforcement trends and proposed rulemaking.

Photo of Mike Nonaka Mike Nonaka

Michael Nonaka, co-chair of the firm’s Fintech Initiative and former co-chair of the Financial Services Group, advises banks, financial services providers, fintech companies, and commercial companies on a broad range of compliance, enforcement, transactional, and legislative matters.

He specializes in providing advice relating…

Michael Nonaka, co-chair of the firm’s Fintech Initiative and former co-chair of the Financial Services Group, advises banks, financial services providers, fintech companies, and commercial companies on a broad range of compliance, enforcement, transactional, and legislative matters.

He specializes in providing advice relating to federal and state licensing and applications matters for banks and other financial institutions, the development of partnerships and platforms to provide innovative financial products and services, and a broad range of compliance areas such as anti-money laundering, financial privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection. He also works closely with banks and their directors and senior leadership teams on sensitive supervisory and strategic matters.

Mike works with a number of banks, lending companies, money transmitters, payments firms, technology companies, and service providers on innovative technologies such as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain, big data, cloud computing, same day payments, and online lending. He has assisted numerous banks and fintech companies with the launch of innovative deposit and loan products, technology services, and cryptocurrency-related products and services.

Mike has advised a number of clients on compliance with TILA, ECOA, TISA, HMDA, FCRA, EFTA, GLBA, FDCPA, CRA, BSA, USA PATRIOT Act, FTC Act, Reg. K, Reg. O, Reg. W, Reg. Y, state money transmitter laws, state licensed lender laws, state unclaimed property laws, state prepaid access laws, and other federal and state laws and regulations.

Photo of Daniel Shallman Daniel Shallman

Dan Shallman is the Managing Partner of Covington’s Los Angeles Office. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Dan specializes in representing companies, independent board committees, and senior corporate executives and public officials in sensitive government and internal investigations. He is known for his ability…

Dan Shallman is the Managing Partner of Covington’s Los Angeles Office. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Dan specializes in representing companies, independent board committees, and senior corporate executives and public officials in sensitive government and internal investigations. He is known for his ability to successfully resolve complex civil and criminal matters, including cross-border investigations involving alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-bribery laws, the False Claims Act (FCA), and the Sherman Antitrust Act. Dan previously co-led Covington’s global Anti-Corruption Practice Group. He is ranked by Chambers USA as a leading white collar defense lawyer and was named to the Daily Journal’s list of top white collar lawyers in California.

A leader in the Los Angeles legal community, Dan previously served as chair of the ABA White Collar Crime Committee for Southern California and the 1,200-lawyer Legal Division of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Bet Tzedek Legal Services.

Photo of Addison Thompson Addison Thompson

Vice-Chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations practice, Addison Thompson has counseled clients in internal and government-facing investigations across a range of issues, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering laws, and trade controls.

Addison has…

Vice-Chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations practice, Addison Thompson has counseled clients in internal and government-facing investigations across a range of issues, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering laws, and trade controls.

Addison has developed a deep understanding of government investigations and federal prosecutions while serving as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee.  Addison also successfully prosecuted a number of jury trials.  He uses this experience to help clients anticipate likely government actions and to develop strategies to quickly and cost effectively manage investigations.

In addition to assisting clients with complex investigations, Addison routinely advises clients on a range of compliance issues related to the FCPA and other anti-bribery laws. As part of this work, he has led risk assessments across a range of businesses, including the life sciences, manufacturing, food and beverage, natural resources, and technology sectors.

Photo of Adam Studner Adam Studner

Adam Studner’s practice focuses on representing companies, individuals, and boards of directors in their most sensitive, high-stakes white collar criminal and civil investigations and defense matters, including government-facing and internal investigations into issues posing enterprise-level risk. Adam regularly represents clients in connection with…

Adam Studner’s practice focuses on representing companies, individuals, and boards of directors in their most sensitive, high-stakes white collar criminal and civil investigations and defense matters, including government-facing and internal investigations into issues posing enterprise-level risk. Adam regularly represents clients in connection with allegations of corruption, fraud, obstruction of justice, accounting improprieties, and other issues. With deep experience representing both multinational corporations and individuals, Adam regularly leads complex, multi-dimensional investigations posing parallel criminal, civil, regulatory, and reputational risks often involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and other U.S. and foreign regulators.

Adam also maintains a robust compliance practice and routinely assists clients in developing, implementing, evaluating, and testing the efficacy of their global compliance programs across a range of regulatory areas, including through conducting risk assessments and compliance program assessments. He also regularly counsels clients on third party risk management, transactional due diligence, and other compliance-sensitive areas.

Adam has worked with clients from a variety of sectors and industries, including life sciences, technology, consumer products, financial services, entertainment, manufacturing, automotive, and aviation, in matters involving regulatory scrutiny and potential exposure across jurisdictions. His ability to navigate multi-faceted and cross-border challenges makes him a trusted advisor in high-risk, high-profile investigations and compliance matters.

Photo of Jean Veta Jean Veta

Jean Veta is described by Chambers USA as “one of the premier banking and financial regulatory enforcement litigators in the country.” She defends financial institutions and their officers and directors in civil and regulatory enforcement matters, government investigations, internal corporate investigations, and congressional…

Jean Veta is described by Chambers USA as “one of the premier banking and financial regulatory enforcement litigators in the country.” She defends financial institutions and their officers and directors in civil and regulatory enforcement matters, government investigations, internal corporate investigations, and congressional investigations.
Jean regularly represents clients on the full range of regulatory enforcement issues, including:

advising on safety and soundness issues, UDAAP and other consumer compliance issues, fair lending, anti-money laundering, securities issues, and FIRREA and False Claims Act investigations.
appearing before the federal bank regulators, the CFPB, FinCEN, the Department of Justice, the SEC, and state attorneys general and bank regulators.

Jean’s pro bono work includes:

filing amicus briefs on behalf of over 20 professional medical associations in opposition to state laws that would ban gender affirming medical care for transgender adolescents. Amici include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychiatric Association.
filing an amicus brief in support of transgender students’ rights. Amici include the National Association of Social Workers, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association.
representing civil rights organizations, an interfaith group of clergy, and four same-sex couples in support of Washington DC’s marriage equality.
representing pro-choice organizations in Congressional investigations into fetal tissue research and late-term abortion.

Jean is ranked in Chambers USA’s Band 1 for Banking Enforcement and Investigations. She was named by The American Lawyer as Litigator of the Week and by Best Lawyers in America as “Washington’s Lawyer of the Year for Banking and Finance Litigation” and “Washington’s Lawyer of the Year for Financial Services Regulatory Law.”

Jean serves as a Commissioner on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Previously, Jean was a member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which provides an impartial evaluation of the professional qualifications of all federal judicial nominees. As the Standing Committee’s representative for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Jean served as a principal evaluator of then Supreme Court nominee, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s professional qualifications to serve on the Court. Jean testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding Justice Jackson’s integrity, professional competence, and judicial temperament. On April 7, 2022, Justice Jackson was confirmed by the Senate to replace Justice Stephen Breyer.

Jean also serves as the DC Bar’s Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates.

During President Clinton’s administration, Jean served as:

Deputy Associate Attorney General, United States Department of Justice (2000-2001)
Deputy General Counsel, United States Department of Education (1998-2000)

As described in Chambers USA, one client said “She’s at the top of her game and top of the industry. She has a keen intellect, and a commanding knowledge of the law, excellent judgment and a passion for zealous representation of her client. You can do no better than to have Jean on your side. She’s the leader in her field.”

Photo of Trevor Kirby Trevor Kirby

Trevor Kirby is an associate in Covington’s Financial Services group. He advises bank and nonbank financial institutions on a broad range of regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters before federal and state financial regulators.

Photo of Joseph Wolf Joseph Wolf

Joe Wolf is an associate in the Washington, DC office. He is a member of the firm’s Financial Services and Government Contracts Practice Groups.