Stuart Levey | |
---|---|
United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
Acting | |
In office January 20, 2009 –January 26, 2009 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Henry Paulson |
Succeeded by | Timothy Geithner |
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence | |
In office July 20,2004 –June 30,2011 | |
President | George W. Bush Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | David S. Cohen |
Stuart A. Levey was the first Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence within the United States Department of the Treasury. He was sworn in on July 21,2004 as a political appointee of President George W. Bush. President Barack Obama asked Levey to remain in his position and Levey was one of only a small number of Senate-confirmed Bush appointees who served in the Obama Administration. After leaving the government,Levey joined the private sector as chief legal officer of HSBC,CEO of Diem Association and chief legal officer of Oracle.
Stuart Levey grew up in a Jewish family [1] near Akron,Ohio,where his father had practiced dentistry. Levey attended Harvard College,graduating summa cum laude in 1986,and in 1989 he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. [2] After law school,Levey clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1989 through 1990. [2]
Prior to joining the Justice Department in 2001,Levey spent 11 years in private practice at the Washington law firm Miller,Cassidy,Larroca &Lewin LLP (which merged into Baker Botts LLP). He had a litigation practice with a special emphasis on white collar criminal defense. [2]
Beginning in 2001,Levey served in several senior positions in the U.S. Department of Justice,including as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General for Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson and Deputy Attorney General James Comey. [3] In that role,Levey was the Deputy Attorney General's primary advisor for coordinating the Department's counterterrorism and national security activities,including investigations,intelligence collection and prosecutions. Prior to serving in that role,Levey was an associate deputy attorney general and chief of staff to the deputy attorney general. [4]
Levey was sworn in on July 21,2004 as the Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the administration of President George W. Bush. President Barack Obama asked Levey to remain in his position and Levey was one of only a small number of Senate-confirmed Bush appointees who served in the Obama Administration. Levey served until March 2011. He was succeeded by David S. Cohen. [5]
Levey played a central role in the efforts to combat North Korea's and Iran's allegedly illicit conduct in the international financial system.
In January 2012,Levey joined HSBC as the bank's Chief Legal Officer. [6]
In August 2020,he became CEO of the Diem Association. [7]
On November 10,2022, Oracle Corporation announced that Stuart Levey has been named executive vice president and chief legal officer. [8]
As the first Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI),from July 2004,Levey was responsible for creating a new office to lead the Treasury Department's revitalized post-9/11 national security mission. Levey is credited with developing and executing financial strategies to counter threats to U.S. national security and protect the integrity of the international financial system. [9] [10] He has also been recognized for leading the U.S. government's efforts to disrupt financial networks supporting terrorist organizations;developing and implementing financial measures against proliferators of weapons of mass destruction;and playing a central role in U.S. strategies to pressure the regimes in North Korea,Iran and Libya. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] He is credited,in particular,with designing the financial strategy that resulted in tremendous pressure on Iran's economy and its isolation from the international financial system. [16]
One of Levey's key initiatives was harnessing the private sector to enhance the effectiveness of government-imposed financial measures. He "led an effort to convince foreign banks to cease conducting business with Iran until that country agreed to comply with international banking standards. By showing companies and banks that doing business in Iran has financial and diplomatic repercussions,he has convinced corporations to cut off business with Iran." [17] TFI's efforts received support from both Republicans [18] and Democrats. [17] [19] Levey,an appointee of the George W. Bush administration,was asked to remain in his position by the Obama Administration.
TFI,through its implementation of economic sanctions and other financial measures,put pressure on the regimes in North Korea,Iran, [20] [21] and Libya. [22] TFI was responsible for leading the U.S. government's efforts to cut off financing to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda,Hamas and Hezbollah. In pursuing that effort against al Qaeda,Levey focused attention on wealthy Gulf-based donors,particularly from Saudi Arabia. [23] He was once quoted as saying,"If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country,it would be Saudi Arabia." No one identified by the United States and the United Nations as a terror financier has been prosecuted by the Saudis,he elaborated. [24] He later acknowledged significant improvement in the partnership between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in targeting al-Qaeda financing. [25]
In June 2006,the New York Times reported that counterterrorism officials had gained access to financial records from a vast international database of banking transactions involving Americans and others in the United States. In response to concerns about privacy issues,Levey said that the Terrorist Financing Tracking Program (TFTP) "has provided us with a unique and powerful window into the operations of terrorist networks and is,without doubt,a legal and proper use of our authorities." [26] Since the creation of the TFTP,the United States and European Union (EU) have entered into a long-standing and comprehensive information sharing agreement to thwart the financing of terrorism around the world and gain timely,accurate,and reliable information about activities associated with suspected acts of terrorist planning and financing. A 2019 EU evaluation of the TFTP found that “over 70,000 leads were generated,some of which brought forward investigations into terrorist attacks on EU territory,such as those in Stockholm,Barcelona,and Turku. The number of leads increased considerably compared to almost 9,000 in the previous reporting period (1 March 2014 to 31 December 2015).” [27] In November 2020,the Wall Street Journal reported that EU member countries widely use the TFTP to monitor global financial ties to terrorism and thwart terrorist actors. [28]
In July 2010,Levey said that Anwar al-Awlaki "has proven that he is extraordinarily dangerous,committed to carrying out deadly attacks on Americans and others worldwide ... [and] has involved himself in every aspect of the supply chain of terrorism—fundraising for terrorist groups,recruiting and training operatives,and planning and ordering attacks on innocents." [29]
On January 15,2009 President-elect Barack Obama designated Levey to serve as Acting Treasury Secretary until Obama nominee Timothy Geithner was confirmed to the post. [30] Geithner was confirmed on January 26. [31]
After leaving the U.S. Department of the Treasury,Levey served as the Chief Legal Officer and a Group Managing Director of HSBC Holdings plc,a global bank with 257,000 employees across 67 jurisdictions in 2014. [32] Levey joined HSBC in 2012 as the bank was seeking to resolve investigations into past anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance failures and to re-build its reputation. Levey led a legal department made up of more than 800 lawyers in more than 50 countries,and re-focused the mission of the department to help the bank do what is legal and what is right. [33] In a speech to The Economist’s General Counsel summit,Levey said that helping a business navigate the external environment requires its senior lawyers to be conscious not only of what the law is in any particular jurisdiction,but also of how the law might evolve in the future. Levey said that businesses must also be aware of how the company might be judged based on the application of broad standards,by several regulators,in numerous jurisdictions,all while acting with the benefit of hindsight. He said that for senior lawyers in a multinational corporation the questions of what is legal and what is right are inextricably linked. [34]
In May of 2016,Levey wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in response to an effort by then-Secretary of State John Kerry to persuade major non-US banks to do business with Iran. In the op-ed,Levey stated that HSBC’s “decisions will be driven by the financial-crime risks and the underlying conduct,”and “[f]or these reasons,HSBC has no intention of doing any new business involving Iran.” He further noted that”[g]overnments can lift sanctions,but the private sector is still responsible for managing its own risk and no doubt will be held accountable if it falls short.” He explained that the conduct that was the basis for Iran-related sanctions,including activities related to terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,had not changed. [35]
Upon Levey’s departure from HSBC in 2020,HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn sent an email to staff in which he said that Levey had been an “exemplary”chief legal officer after joining “at one of the most challenging moments in the Group’s history”. Quinn further noted that Levey “was a driving force behind the bank’s transformation in how we fight financial crime and helped us to rebuild our reputation,as well as the trust of our regulators and other government stakeholders.” [36]
Stuart Gulliver,the former chief executive of HSBC,said that Levey was “the most important key hire”he made during his tenure. [37]
In May of 2020,Levey was appointed the CEO of the Diem Association,a member-based association dedicated to building a blockchain-based payment system that supports financial innovation,inclusion,and integrity and is designed with robust controls to protect consumers and fight financial crime. [38] Levey is also the CEO of Diem Networks US. [39]
On becoming the Diem Association’s CEO,Levey said that the project “charts a bold path forward to harness the power of technology to transform the global payments landscape,”and that Diem will “empower more than a billion people who have been left on the sidelines of the financial system,all with robust controls to detect and deter illicit financial activity.” [40]
Former US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson,said:“The fact that Stuart is an expert at countering abuses of our financial system by terrorists [and] money launderers . . . gives me confidence that this digital currency is highly likely to set a standard for safety.” [41]
In May 2020,the Financial Times reported that Levey was reviewing Diem's plans for financial crime compliance and other critical controls to deter illegal and illicit use of the Diem blockchain and currency ahead of its launch,as well as to protect the privacy of users. [42]
Under Levey's leadership,the Diem Association has made significant changes to the project that was initially rolled out as Libra in 2019,incorporating feedback from regulators. [43] Levey has steered the Diem project to work “with regulators,central bankers,elected officials,and various stakeholders around the world to determine the best way to marry blockchain technology with accepted regulatory frameworks.”Levey has also said that a key objective of Diem is to promote the inclusion of billions of unbanked and underbanked people in the formal financial system. In 2020,Levey pointed to high-cost remittance fees in the developing world as a motivator for the Diem project. [44]
Speaking to the American Banker,Levey emphasized how critical getting the protections right for the new payment system would be:“I personally want to build a project that has the type of financial crime controls that can even go beyond the effectiveness of the traditional banking system. We’re going to have world-class anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls.” [45]
Levey joined Oracle Corporation as executive vice president and chief legal officer in November 2022. In this role,Levey leads Oracle’s legal strategy for all areas of the business –from compliance and privacy to litigation and M&A. As Oracle CEO Safra Catz said,Levey’s “depth of experience in technology,finance,and national security make him a perfect fit to lead our legal team as it navigates changing policies,complex regulations,and our rapidly growing cloud business.” [46]
According to The New York Times ,the failure of the United States to carry out sanctions against many Iranian companies and individuals is cited by European diplomats as an example of America failing to do what it has promised. Valerie Lincy of Iran Watch has said,"The United States now lags many other countries in enforcing sanctions that the United Nations has already voted." [47] The Tehran Times wrote that the U.S. Treasury has increased pressure on foreign banks not to deal with sanctions against Iran,including performing "U-turn transactions," which allow U.S. banks to process payments involving Iran that begin and end with a non-Iranian foreign bank. [48]
In reply to Lincy's comments,Levey said that the United States has tougher sanctions on Iran than any other country. He said that because their list of organizations and individuals involved in financial crime is accurate,it is America's list that "is by and large used by financial institutions around the world." [2]
"State Sponsors of Terrorism" is a designation applied to countries that are alleged to have "repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism" per the United States Department of State. Inclusion on the list enables the United States government to impose four main types of unilateral sanctions:a restriction of foreign aid,a ban on weapons sales,heightened control over the export of dual-use equipment,and other miscellaneous economic sanctions. The State Department is required to maintain the list under section 1754(c) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019,section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act,and section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives. Under Presidential national emergency powers,OFAC carries out its activities against foreign states as well as a variety of other organizations and individuals,like terrorist groups,deemed to be a threat to U.S. national security.
Iran and the United States have had no formal diplomatic relations since 7 April 1980. Instead,Pakistan serves as Iran's protecting power in the United States,while Switzerland serves as the United States' protecting power in Iran. Contacts are carried out through the Iranian Interests Section of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington,D.C.,and the US Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran. In August 2018,Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei banned direct talks with the United States.
HSBC Holdings plc,originally The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation,and known locally as HongkongBank in Hong Kong,Canada and Australia during the early 1980s to late 1990s,is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London,England,with business links to East Asia and a multinational footprint. It is the largest Europe-based bank by total assets,ahead of BNP Paribas,with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021,HSBC had $10.8 trillion in assets under custody (AUC) and $4.9 trillion in assets under administration (AUA).
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis (OIA) is a component of the United States Department of the Treasury responsible for the receipt,analysis,collation,and dissemination of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information related to the operation and responsibilities of the Treasury Department.
The Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is a position within the United States Department of the Treasury responsible for directing the Treasury's efforts to cut the lines of financial support for terrorists,fight financial crime,enforce economic sanctions against rogue nations,and combat the financial support of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Under Secretary is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) is a United States government program to access financial transactions on the international SWIFT network that was revealed by The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times in June 2006. It was part of the Bush administration's War on Terrorism. After the covert action was disclosed,the so-called SWIFT Agreement was negotiated between the United States and the European Union.
Hezbollah Bayt al-Mal,AKA Hezbollah Bayt al-Mal Lil Muslimeen,is a Hezbollah-controlled organization that performs financial services for the organization. In Arabic,the term is used as "House of Money."
Yousser Company for Finance and Investment is a bank that was part of the first Canadian lawsuit against a bank over terrorist funding.
The funding of Hezbollah comes from Lebanese business groups,private persons,businessmen,the Lebanese diaspora involved in African diamond exploration,other Islamic groups and countries,and the taxes paid by the Shia Lebanese. Hezbollah says that the main source of its income comes from its own investment portfolios and donations by Muslims.
The United States has since 1979 applied various economic,trade,scientific and military sanctions against Iran. United States economic sanctions are administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC),an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. Currently,United States sanctions against Iran include an embargo on dealings with the country by the United States,and a ban on selling aircraft and repair parts to Iranian aviation companies.
The Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI),formed in 2004,is an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. TFI works to reduce the use of the financial system for illicit activities by terrorists,money launderers,drug cartels,and other national security threats.
Sudan–United States relations are the bilateral relations between Sudan and the United States. The United States government has been critical of Sudan's human rights record and has dispatched a strong UN Peacekeeping force to Darfur. Relations between both countries in recent years have greatly improved,with Sudan's post-revolutionary government compensating American victims of al-Qaeda terror attacks,the removal of Sudan from the State Department's blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism and the United States Congress having reinstated Sudan's sovereign immunity in December 2020.
Daniel L. Glaser is a former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the United States Department of the Treasury. He served under Adam Szubin,the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence in the Obama Administration. His work came into prominence as the result of a 2010 WikiLeaks document dump.
Qatar has been accused of allowing terror financiers to operate within its borders,which has been one of the justifications for the Qatar diplomatic crisis that started in 2017 and ended in 2021. In 2014,David S. Cohen,then United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence,accused Qatari authorities of allowing financiers who were on international blacklists to live freely in the country:"There are U.S.- and UN-designated terrorist financiers in Qatar that have not been acted against under Qatari law." Accusations come from a wide variety of sources including intelligence reports,government officials,and journalists.
The Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing is an office of the United States government within the United States Treasury Department.
David Samuel Cohen is an American attorney who has served as deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since January 20,2021,previously holding the position from February 9,2015 to January 20,2017. He served as acting director of the CIA from January 20 to March 19,2021 until the Senate confirmation of William J. Burns.
Diem was a permissioned blockchain-based stablecoin payment system proposed by the American social media company Facebook. The plan also included a private currency implemented as a cryptocurrency.
James H. Freis Jr. is an American lawyer and financial industry executive who from 2007 to 2012 served as the United States Department of the Treasury's 6th Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN),where he expanded the scope of the anti-money laundering regulations and became known for spearheading efforts to combat fraud and implementing modern data analysis. He was an attorney and central banker at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank for International Settlements.
Hagar Hajjar Chemali is an American political satirist,writer,producer,television personality,and political commentator. Chemali has held senior national security and public affairs positions under the Barack Obama and George W. Bush administrations. She comments and writes on national security and foreign policy.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The U.S. Senate confirmed Timothy Geithner as President Barack Obama's Treasury secretary by a 60–34 vote, paving the way for the new administration to usher in its financial-rescue plan.