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  1. Home
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  3. Veronica Yepez
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Veronica Yepez

Of Counsel
Washington +1 202 662 5165 vyepez@cov.com Download V-card
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Veronica Yepez advises multinational companies on compliance with anti-corruption regimes around the world, with a particular focus on Latin America. She is also experienced in white-collar criminal defense, complex litigation, and arbitration for large international companies, major financial institutions, and senior executives.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Yepez founded a leading compliance practice in Latin America, serving both multinational and regional clients. A U.S.-trained lawyer with experience on-the-ground in Latin America, Ms. Yepez draws upon her deep understanding of local business culture to advise her clients on compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-corruption regimes, and to help them navigate complex cross-border compliance issues under the region’s evolving enforcement climate.

Compliance Counseling

  • Developed policies and procedures for incident reporting and investigation for international mining company.
  • Drafted anti-corruption policy for U.S. technology services company with operations in South America.
  • Assisted European, Canadian, and American companies in adapting their anti- corruption compliance policies for their operations in Ecuador.
  • Conducted training for one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies and its compliance officers in Central and South America on effective interview techniques during internal investigations.    
  • Developed and delivered training on conducting internal investigations for European pharmaceutical company and its Latin American compliance officers.
  • Conducted anti-corruption compliance training for European animal nutrition and aqua-feed company’s employees and third parties in Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.
  • Conducted anti-corruption compliance training for one of the largest publicly traded technology company’s third parties in Ecuador.
  • Represented Ecuador's largest financial institution in connection with a review of its anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) compliance program.
  • Reviewed one of Mexico’s most important private bank’s AML/CFT program.

Internal Investigations

  • Represented a publicly traded multinational telecommunications company in connection with an internal accounting fraud investigation in Brazil.
  • Represented a multinational airline in connection with an internal antitrust investigation.
  • Counseled European bank in connection with internal investigation of possible Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) violation involving Iranian, Sudanese, and Syrian sanctions.        

Anti-Corruption Due Diligence and Mergers and Acquisitions

  • Assisted European life sciences corporation in a pre-acquisition anti-corruption due diligence of an Ecuadorian medical laboratory.
  • Represented a U.S. multinational private equity corporation in the anti-corruption due diligence of a pharmaceutical target company in Ecuador.

Individual Representations

  • Represented Joseph Sigelman, the former CEO of PetroTiger, in a high-profile FCPA trial. The Department Of Justice charged Mr. Sigelman with bribery and fraud related to his business activities in Colombia.
  • Represented one of Mexico’s most prominent bankers in high visibility Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations of Citigroup Inc., in connection with a $750 million fraud involving Banamex., Citigroup’s Mexican subsidiary.
  • Represented the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea in a precedent-setting civil forfeiture action brought by the Department of Justice to seize and forfeit his $38.5 million dollar jet.

Arbitration

  • Represented the Republic of Argentina before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case in which claimant BG Group PLC sought to confirm a $185 million arbitral award in its favor under a bilateral investment treaty.
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  • Latinvex, Latin America’s Top 100 Female Lawyers: FCPA & Fraud (2019)
  • In 2017 and 2018, the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association (LACCA) recognized Ms. Yepez as being among the region’s leading business lawyers under its Anti-Corruption & Compliance chapter.

Practices

Yale Law School, J.D., 2008

  • Yale Journal of International Law, Development Editor

Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, M.A., 2002

  • with honors

Denison University, B.A., 1999

  • Hon. Peter J. Messitte, U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, 2010 - 2011
  • District of Columbia
  • New York
  • Spanish
  • Portuguese