Former U.S. Treasury Department Counsel Joins Arent Fox in D.C.
Matthew Tuchband has joined Arent Fox LLP in the firm’s International Trade practice.
Tuchband, who has spent more than 20 years at the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of the Chief Counsel (Foreign Assets Control) in the Office of the General Counsel, joins the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and will advise clients on all aspects of international trade with a focus on sanctions.
In his most recent role as deputy chief counsel for Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department — which he held from 2005 to 2019 (including over one year as acting chief counsel from April 2012 to August 2013) — Tuchband was responsible for overseeing a team of attorneys providing legal counsel and review of all economic sanctions actions of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). During his tenure at Treasury, Tuchband was involved in many important sanctions developments, including the formation and evolution of the “50 percent” rule and the increasing use of “secondary sanctions,” the firm said in a release.
Tuchband has experience in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), having been involved in the drafting of more than 65 Executive orders, including recent Executive orders on Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea.
During his time at Treasury, Tuchband conducted reviews of all OFAC-issued regulations, including all those published from 2005 to the present. He provided review and final legal sign-off on OFAC compliance, enforcement, licensing, designation, and delisting actions and worked closely with the Department of Justice on various cases brought against OFAC. Tuchband received the Secretary’s Honor Award, the Legal Division’s Excellence in Management Award, and several Meritorious Service Awards, among others.
Before joining federal government, Tuchband was an associate at Crowell & Morning LLP where he focused on export and transaction controls, customs, antidumping, and general litigation, including litigation strategy, pleadings, and depositions. He earned his JD, cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center and his BA, cum laude, from Brandeis University.
