Our Team

MICHAEL VOLKOV, Principal, has over 30 years of experience in practicing law.

A former federal prosecutor and veteran white-collar defense attorney, Mike is an expert in compliance, internal investigations and enforcement matters. Mike was a federal prosecutor for over 25 years, and has extensive trial experience in federal court. He also served as chief crime and terrorism counsel for the Senate and House Judiciary Committees.

Mike maintains a highly popular FCPA blog – Corruption, Crime & Compliance. He is a regular speaker at events around the globe, and is frequently cited in the media for his knowledge on criminal issues, enforcement matters, compliance and corporate governance.

Mike is licensed in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

JESSICA SANDERSON, Partner, has more than 20 years of legal experience, including in complex civil litigation, white-collar defense and regulatory and securities enforcement under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), UK Bribery Act and False Claims Act. Jessica has considerable corporate compliance and ethics expertise, having designed, audited and strengthened corporate compliance programs. Jessica has a unique perspective on compliance programs having served in leadership roles on a team of lawyers supporting the compliance monitor in connection with the then-largest FCPA settlement ever and as in-house counsel for a multinational company operating under an external compliance monitorship.

Jessica is licensed in Colorado and New York.

MATT STANKIEWICZ, Managing Counsel, specializes in corporate compliance and ethics, with considerable experience supervising and handling complex risk management projects relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and OFAC sanctions risks.  Matt has extensive experience in providing ethics and compliance training, and analyzing complex compliance issues surrounding anti-corruption, sanctions, and money laundering issues.  Matt was a member of the Ethics and Compliance Monitorship team appointed by the DOJ and EPA to oversee BP plc’s criminal and debarment settlement agreements stemming from the Deepwater Horizon incident. Matt also served as co-counsel in the representation of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman in the House Impeachment hearings.

Matt is licensed in New York and New Jersey.

ELIZABETH SLIM, Senior Consultant, is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (“CAMS”) for 15 years with over 35 years specializing in bank operations, compliance, risk management and regulatory training at various community to mid-size financial institutions.  For the past 15 years, Slim is an experienced Bank Secrecy (“BSA”) and Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) Officer managing a team of analysts that conduct fraud and money laundering investigations.  She managed and had oversight responsibilities of the financial institution’s BSA program, BSA risk assessment, transaction monitoring, government reporting, sanctions program and training.

In 2009, Slim founded and serves as the co-chairperson of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (“ACAMS”) Southern California Chapter.  She also participates on the ACAMS Education Task Force and CAMS Advanced Audit Certification program.  She was the ACAMS recipient of the 2013 Al Gillum Volunteer of the Year Award.  Elizabeth has been an invited guest speaker at several national conferences on various topics related to anti-money laundering.

NOAH M. SMITH, Senior Associate, has focused his career on criminal litigation and white collar matters. Noah has quickly assumed responsibility for important matters, representing clients in criminal investigations, enforcement and investigation matters, and leading projects to design and implement effective ethics and compliance solutions relating to OFAC sanctions compliance and anti-corruption issues.

Prior to joining The Volkov Law Group, Noah handled white collar matters and expedited criminal trials as a judicial clerk for the Hon. Malachy E. Mannion at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Before his clerkship, Noah worked on regulatory compliance and ethics issues at the U.S. Department of Justice, and he assisted with internal investigations at the Library of Congress. Noah earned his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal.

Noah is licensed in New York.

VIRGINIA A. SUVEIU, Esq. is Of Counsel at Volkov Law Group and counsels on regulatory compliance and commercial law matters. She is currently editing a handbook on Risk Management and the Law for Routledge. Virginia is a mediator and arbitrator, including for the International Chamber of Commerce, the Orange County Bar Association and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. She is on the Board of Directors of the National Contract Management Association, Orange County Chapter. She is affiliated with and has been invited to speak to numerous professional organizations on business law-related issues. She has held several positions in academia, including as founding dean and professor, as well as instructor and content developer for UC Irvine, from where she was given the Distinguished Instructor Award.

Virginia is an active member of the State Bar of California and admitted to the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

VINCENT RUIZ, Of Counsel, focuses on anti-corruption compliance and investigations. He has over 30 years’ experience as a litigator, appellate attorney and regulatory compliance counsel. Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Ruiz has represented American clients with business interests in Mexico. Mr. Ruiz served as a mediator for the California Court of Appeal and a judicial arbitrator for the San Francisco Superior Court. Mr. Ruiz earned his J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, where he was an associate editor of the California Law Review. Following graduation, he worked as a research attorney for the Central Staff of Chief Justice Rose E. Bird of the California Supreme Court. He then served as a court law clerk and civil motions attorney at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, working for a time as a clerk in chambers for the Hon. Arthur L. Alarcon.

Mr. Ruiz is licensed in California.

JANET LONGO, Regulatory Compliance Analyst, specializes in trade compliance, with considerable experience advising industry leaders of export regulations and FCPA. Janet earned a Master of Science in Regulatory Trade Compliance (MSc.-RTC) from Dunlap-Stone University. For 13 years Janet has been a Compliance Officer and Empowered Official for corporations that manufacturer and export highly controlled commodities. In addition, she has created internal compliance programs (ECP) including training and audit procedures to ensure compliance.

STEVE NAUGHTON, Senior Counsel, comes to the Volkov Law Group with more than 30 years of experience in compliance and managing risk as an outside attorney, in-house counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for three large multinational corporations.  Steve also currently serves as the Director of Regulatory Compliance Studies and a Clinical Professor at Loyola University (Chicago) Law School.

Most recently, Steve served on the Volkswagen Monitorship team.  Prior to that, Steve was the Vice President and Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer of Kimberly-Clark, where he managed all of the company’s compliance efforts. Steve was also previously the Senior Vice President and Chief Litigation Officer of PepsiCo, where he managed all of PepsiCo’s litigation and led PepsiCo’s defense of high-visibility putative class action suits.  Before leading the litigation group at PepsiCo, Steve served as its Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer. During this period, PepsiCo was recognized annually as one of Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies and its Compliance program received a perfect score in a review by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.  Steve has also been recognized as a Top Compliance Mind by Compliance Week.

Steve worked at two law firms to begin his career. He began his career as an attorney with Rooks, Pitts and Poust, focusing on medical malpractice, product liability and pharmaceutical matters and then worked at the late Pope Ballard Shepard and Fowle, Ltd. in Chicago where he was elected partner.