Thornton_Sean

Sean M. Thornton

Thornton_Sean

Sean M. Thornton

Partner

Boston + 1 617 526 6226

Sean Thornton is a leading financial services attorney with over two decades of experience handling U.S. economic sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML), and other financial-crime regulatory matters.  He advises global companies and financial institutions on complex compliance challenges, enforcement risk, and regulatory strategy.  Sean’s in-depth technical expertise has helped influence U.S. sanctions policy and continues to inform the practical, forward-looking counsel he provides to clients.

Before joining the firm, Sean served as Managing Director and Head of Legal Financial Security for the Americas at BNP Paribas, where he led legal strategy for the bank’s U.S. sanctions and AML compliance programs, and helped lead global remediation following the largest sanctions enforcement action in U.S. history.  Prior to BNP Paribas, he practiced at another major law firm, counseling clients on sanctions, illicit finance, and high-stakes government investigations.  Sean also served seven years as Chief Counsel of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he helped shaped the modern U.S. sanctions framework and advanced key national security priorities. 

Sean began his legal career clerking for Judge John M. Steadman of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals before entering private practice as an international trade associate.

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Credentials

  • Education

    • JD, Georgetown University Law Center, 1997

      cum laude

    • AB, Harvard College, 1994

      magna cum laude

  • Admissions

    • District of Columbia

    • California

  • Government Experience

    • Department of the Treasury

      Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

      Chief Counsel

    • Department of the Treasury

      Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)

      Senior Advisor to the General Counsel

Credentials

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