Zachary Goldman has extensive experience working on complex regulatory and enforcement matters related to OFAC sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML) and financial crime risk management issues. Mr. Goldman serves as a trusted advisor for the financial services and other sectors as they seek to perform risk assessments, evaluate the AML and sanctions risks associated with new commercial activities or transactions, and develop and enhance financial crimes compliance programs. Mr. Goldman has particular expertise advising banks and financial technology companies on AML and sanctions risk management issues, and in conducting internal investigations and responses to government inquiries from regulatory and enforcement authorities around the world for global banks and other financial institutions related to anti-money laundering and sanctions issues.

Mr. Goldman is also a co-chair of WilmerHale’s Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Working Group, and advises cryptocurrency and digital asset companies on a wide range of regulatory issues that affect virtual currency exchanges, investors, traders, wallet providers, protocol and software developers, token issuers, and others. He broadly counsels virtual currency and digital asset clients on the AML, sanctions, money transmission, and bank regulatory implications of their proposed activities, helping to devise regulatory strategies for cryptocurrency businesses, and to engage with regulators to obtain guidance or licenses. Mr. Goldman also advises technology companies seeking to provide financial services, either by entering into partnerships with banks or money transmitters or by pursuing their own licenses.  

Before joining WilmerHale, Mr. Goldman was the executive director at New York University School of Law's Center on Law and Security (CLS) and an adjunct professor of law, teaching courses on national security law and cybersecurity. While there, he built CLS into a leading global research center focused on national security law, testified before US Congress and foreign parliaments on financial sanctions, and developed a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary master's degree in cybersecurity. Mr. Goldman also co-founded NYU's Center for Cybersecurity.

Mr. Goldman previously served as a special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Chairman's Action Group, and as a policy advisor at the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, where he focused on terrorist financing and Iran counterproliferation sanctions.

Mr. Goldman has an extensive record of publications on issues of financial sanctions, cybersecurity, intelligence, cryptocurrencies, and national security law and policy. These include Global Intelligence Oversight, a book he published with Oxford University Press in 2016, op-eds in leading publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Lawfare, FT Chinese, The Atlantic and others, as well as a number of academic publications. He is regularly quoted on these topics in national and international media.

Mr. Goldman serves as co-chair of the firm's Hiring Committee in New York.

Professional Activities

• Adjunct Senior Fellow, Program on Energy, Economics, and Security, Center for a New American Security
• Former Term Member, Council on Foreign Relations, New York
• Member, the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Theological Seminary
• Member, New York Bar Association