Ziad El Oud

Prior to joining Curtis, Mr. El Oud was the lead associate for a boutique law firm advising on U.S. sanctions and export controls compliance, white collar defense, and corporate law. He advised on a broad range of Russia, Iran, Cuba, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Magnitsky Act, and Venezuela sanctions matters and represented clients with applications before the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Mr. El Oud’s sanctions experience includes preparing license applications, de-listing applications, voluntary self-disclosures, and developing client-specific sanctions compliance guidelines.

Mr. El Oud’s experiences include assisting international clients seeking removal from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) Entity List and filing petitions and protests for sensitive customs enforcement matters before U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He also provided counsel on diverse national security law matters, including advising on foreign direct investment controls imposed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations.

Mr. El Oud is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), which provides him insight into the role of illicit money flows, particularly as they apply to areas of national security law such as U.S. sanctions. He has also acquired social impact certifications in Preventing Online Child Exploitation with Financial Intelligence, Fighting Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, and Enhancing Financial Inclusion with a Risk-Based Approach. These certifications bolster his expertise in financial compliance and deepen his commitment to combating forced labor, modern slavery, and human trafficking.

Mr. El Oud was raised in Abu Dhabi, where he attended an international school. He has worked in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and has also studied and worked in Lebanon, where he handled corporate legal matters in-house and taught legal and geopolitical courses as an adjunct professor at the Lebanese International University (LIU) and the American University of Science and Technology (AUST).

Mr. El Oud’s thought leadership includes contributions to the Global Investigations Review’s (GIR) publication, The Guide to Sanctions (2023) and The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations (2023).