Chief Legal Officer, Castle Island Ventures
Gus Coldebella is the Chief Legal Officer of Castle Island Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investing in blockchain technology, where he handles legal, regulatory, policy, and compliance matters for the firm.
Over a career spanning private practice, government, and technology, he has served as a law firm partner, prosecutor, senior federal official, general counsel, and venture capital partner. He previously served as acting general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush administration, leading a team of 1,700 lawyers, and focusing on all major security issues confronting the nation. His private-sector leadership roles have included chief legal officer of Circle; general counsel of Paradigm; partner at True Ventures; and partner in Goodwin Procter’s litigation and investigations practice.
Coldebella holds a J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from Colgate University, where he later served as vice chair of the Board of Trustees and president of the Alumni Council. He teaches “Artificial Intelligence: Law and Policy” at Boston College Law School.
Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Eric Kadel is engaged in a wide variety of corporate, transactional and regulatory matters. He is a member of the Firm’s Corporate and Finance, Financial Services, Investment Management, Alternative Investment Management, Cybersecurity, and Commodities, Futures and Derivatives Groups. With regard to financings, Mr. Kadel regularly represents participants in capital markets transactions, and dealers and end users in connection with structuring and documenting a wide variety of swaps and other derivatives, including equity, credit default and commodity swaps, options and forwards. Mr. Kadel’s work in the investment management area includes advising public and private investment companies and investment advisers on a wide variety of transactional, regulatory, compliance and other matters, including registration and regulation. Mr. Kadel also advises clients of the Firm regarding developments in the laws regulating the financial services industry and on cybersecurity issues. Mr. Kadel is currently an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School.
In addition, Mr. Kadel is one of the principal partners in the Firm’s International Trade and Investment practice. He counsels and represents clients on questions about U.S. economic sanctions, including those administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), United States antiboycott requirements under the Export Administration Regulations administered and enforced by the Commerce Department’s Office of Antiboycott Compliance within the Bureau of Industry and Security, Bank Secrecy Act/anti‐money laundering laws and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). Mr. Kadel’s practice includes analysis of proposed transactions and business relationships; due diligence and design and review of compliance procedures and strategies; and internal investigations, voluntary disclosures and government enforcement actions. Mr. Kadel also regularly advises clients regarding questions arising under Exon-Florio and the transaction review process administered by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), and has represented clients before CFIUS on many national security reviews.
Senior Adviser, Crito Capital
Dr. Oonagh McDonald, CBE is currently a senior adviser to Crito Capital, a private placement company based in New York.
A former British Member of Parliament, she became an international expert in financial regulation, after losing her seat in the General Election, 1987. She worked with the Asian Development Bank, advising regulatory authorities in a number of countries, including Sri Lanka and Indonesia. More recently, she has worked with USAID in Ukraine and Moldova. She has served as a non-executive director on the board of both financial services companies and regulatory authorities. In 1998, she was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire), a national honor by the Queen for her work in financial regulation.
She is the author of numerous articles and seven books, of which the most recent are: “Holding bankers to account: A decade of market manipulation, regulatory failures and regulatory reforms” (Manchester University Press, 2019) and “Cryptocurrencies: Money, Trust and Regulation” (Agenda Publishing, 2021).
K2 Integrity, Global Co-Managing Partner and Chief Strategy Officer
The Honorable Juan Zarate is the global co-managing partner and chief strategy officer for the global consulting firm, K2 Integrity. He is also the co-founder and Chair of the Board of Consilient, an innovative new fintech.
He is the chairman and co-founder of the Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies(CSIS), and a senior fellow at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center. He was a visiting lecturer in law at the Harvard Law School for eight years and is a published author, including his books “Treasury’s War” (2013) and “Forging Democracy” (1994).
Mr. Zarate sits on the boards of various organizations, including Northwestern Mutual, Cambridge Quantum Computing North America Holdings, Guardian Space Technologies Systems, and the Director’s Advisory Board for the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). Since 2014, Mr. Zarate has served as an independent advisor to Coinbase, the largest virtual asset service provider in the United States. With two appointments by Pope Francis,Mr. Zarate sat on the board of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority for over five years; the Boston Dynamics board for over three years; and for seven years, he was the U.S. advisor on HSBC’s Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee (overseeing remediation of the bank’s anti-money laundering system and adherence with the U.S.DOJ deferred prosecution agreement) and remains an advisor to HSBC’s Group Risk Committee.
Mr. Zarate served as the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism (“counterterrorism czar”) from 2005 to 2009, where he was responsible for developing and implementing the U.S. counterterrorism strategy and policies related to transnational security threats, including hostage-taking, piracy, anti-money laundering, kleptocracy, transnational organized crime, and international energy infrastructure protection,. He was responsible for conceiving and leading major initiatives in the post 9/11 period, including the establishment of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT).
He was the first ever assistant secretary of the treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes. In this role, he led the post-9/11 anti-money laundering and sanctions regime expansion in the United States; helped develop the international standards for AML/CFT and proliferation finance; supervised the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Treasury’s Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture (TEOAF); drove the innovative use of the Treasury’s national security–related powers and ultimately the establishment of the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). He has also led some of the largest asset recovery ventures in history, including the return of over $3 billion in Iraqi assets.
Mr. Zarate is a former federal terrorism prosecutor, prior to 9/11, serving on the prosecution teams in the East Africa bombings and USS Cole cases, among others. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School, and a Rotary Fellow at the Universidad de Salamanca. At Harvard College, he won the John P. Reardon Award, as the best male student athlete.
Senior Counsel and Director of Global Regulatory Matters, ConsenSys Software
Bill Hughes is senior counsel and director of global regulatory matters for ConsenSys Software, the leading Ethereum blockchain software company. Bill focuses on the diverse and ever evolving crypto global regulatory landscape, and the legal and public policy issues with which ConsenSys and the broader crypto ecosystem is grappling.
Bill joined ConsenSys after serving as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, where he managed, among other things, the Department’s work on prospective regulations, legislative proposals, and policies across a broad spectrum of legal and operational issues. He worked closely with the White House and other federal agencies on regulatory and policy initiatives and coordinated DOJ’s law enforcement response to COVID-19-related consumer fraud and money laundering. Bill also has served at the White House, where he oversaw various operational components. Bill began his career by clerking for a federal judge in New York and litigating with the firm of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Bill received his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and his BA from Vanderbilt University.
Chief Legal Officer, Castle Island Ventures
Gus Coldebella is the Chief Legal Officer of Castle Island Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investing in blockchain technology, where he handles legal, regulatory, policy, and compliance matters for the firm.
Over a career spanning private practice, government, and technology, he has served as a law firm partner, prosecutor, senior federal official, general counsel, and venture capital partner. He previously served as acting general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush administration, leading a team of 1,700 lawyers, and focusing on all major security issues confronting the nation. His private-sector leadership roles have included chief legal officer of Circle; general counsel of Paradigm; partner at True Ventures; and partner in Goodwin Procter’s litigation and investigations practice.
Coldebella holds a J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from Colgate University, where he later served as vice chair of the Board of Trustees and president of the Alumni Council. He teaches “Artificial Intelligence: Law and Policy” at Boston College Law School.
Founder and Principal, Fillmore Global Strategies LLC
Ambassador Nathan A. Sales is the founder and principal of Fillmore Global Strategies LLC, a consultancy that provides legal and strategic advisory services on matters at the intersection of law, policy, and diplomacy.
From 2017 to 2021, Ambassador Sales served at the U.S. Department of State as Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights (acting). He oversaw nine bureaus and offices led by Senate-confirmed principals, with 1,300 employees and a combined foreign assistance budget of more than $5 billion annually, and the mission of preventing and countering threats to civilian security, including terrorism, mass atrocities, and violations of human rights and the rule of law.
Concurrently, Ambassador Sales was Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism. After being nominated by the President and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he was sworn in on August 10, 2017. He served as the principal adviser to the Secretary of State on international counterterrorism matters, and led the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau, a 200-person team with an annual foreign assistance budget of $400 million. He was also the Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, leading U.S. relations with the 83-member Coalition and efforts to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS in the Middle East and around the world.
While at the State Department, Ambassador Sales led the elements of the U.S. government’s China strategy promoting democratic values and human rights, including with respect to Hong Kong and Xinjiang. He oversaw the development and implementation of a wide range of U.S. government sanctions, including Global Magnitsky actions and Executive Order 13,936, targeting those responsible for undermining Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy. Ambassador Sales was the architect of the landmark 2017 UN Security Council Resolution 2396 on terrorist travel, and successfully pressed NATO to make counterterrorism a core Alliance mission. He led diplomatic engagements to persuade a dozen key partners in Europe and the Americas to designate Hizballah as a terrorist organization in its entirety. He launched the Western Hemisphere Counterterrorism Ministerial, in which heads of state and minister-level officials meet bianually to coordinate efforts against terrorist threats in the region. He led the U.S. government’s international efforts to combat white supremacist terrorism. Under his leadership, the State Department imposed terrorism sanctions on the Russian Imperial Movement – the first-ever U.S. designation of white supremacist terrorists.
Before joining the State Department, Ambassador Sales was Of Counsel at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP (formerly Bancroft PLLC). He was also a tenured law professor, teaching and writing in the fields of administrative law, constitutional law, and national security law. His scholarship has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court multiple times.
Ambassador Sales previously was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He led DHS’s efforts to draft and implement legislation that strengthened the security of and expanded the Visa Waiver Program (which allows citizens of certain countries to travel to the United States without a visa). He headed the U.S. delegation in talks with seven countries to implement the new security measures and was the Secretary of Homeland Security’s Special Envoy to South Korea.
Ambassador Sales also served at the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on regulatory initiatives, counterterrorism, and judicial confirmations. In 2005, he managed DOJ’s “war room” for the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts. He received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service – the Justice Department’s highest honor – for his role in drafting the USA PATRIOT Act, as well as the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for his work on judicial confirmations.
In addition to his work at Fillmore Global Strategies, Ambassador Sales is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a senior advisor at the Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security consultancy. He serves on a number of advisory boards, including for the Counter-Extremism Project (a nonprofit and nonpartisan international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideologies), the Secure Community Network (the official safety and security organization for the North American Jewish community), and the Sue J. Henry Center for Pre-Law Education at Miami University.
An Ohio native, Ambassador Sales received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Duke Law School, where he was Research Editor of the Duke Law Journal and joined the Order of the Coif. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
Executive Vice President, The Federalist Society
Dean Reuter is Executive Vice President at the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. He has served in two federal government agency Offices of the Inspector General, as Counsel to the Inspector General and Deputy Inspector General, responsible for policing the use of federal funds granted and contracted through those agencies. As such, he helped conduct and oversee criminal investigations across the country. He is the principal author of the non-fiction book, The Hidden Nazi: The Untold Story of America's Deal with the Devil, and editor of Liberty’s Nemesis: The Unchecked Expansion of the State and Confronting Terror: 9/11 and the Future of American National Security. He was appointed by the President and served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and recently served as an appointee on the U.S. Commission on Presidential Scholars. He is a graduate of Hood College (BA with Honors) and the University of Maryland School of Law.
Legislative Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union
Michelle Richardson is a Legislative Counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office where she focuses on national security and government transparency issues such as the Patriot Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, cybersecurity, state secrets and the Freedom of Information Act. Before coming to the ACLU in 2006, Richardson served as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee where she specialized in national security, civil rights and constitutional issues for Democratic Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.).?
Panel I: Cryptocurrency and National Security
Gus P. Coldebella, Eric J. Kadel, Oonagh Ann McDonald, Juan C. Zarate, William C. Hughes
Cryptocurrencies have in many ways seized the public imagination. And there are many potential benefits to...
Cybersecurity -- Information Sharing, Privacy, Regulation, and Reason - Podcast
Gus P. Coldebella, John P. Sneed, Nathan A. Sales, Dean Reuter, Michelle Richardson
International & National Security Law Practice Group Podcast
Cyber threats were the first identified Global Threat in the U.S. Intelligence Community Worldwide Threat...