Kathleen Hamann

Kathleen Hamann was a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act team before joining White & Case as partner in 2014.

Prior to joining the criminal division’s fraud section, Hamann worked at the US Department of State as the deputy director of Anti-corruption and Governance Initiatives in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

After her time at the State Department, she worked in private practice at Powell Goldstein – which was absorbed by Bryan Cave in 2009 – where she focused on international criminal laws and regulations for the firm’s government contracts, international, and white-collar practice groups.

She joined the fraud section in 2006 and worked on a number of FCPA cases during her tenure until 2014.

She was the lead prosecutor on the Nexus Technologies case. Nexus, a Philadelphia-based export company, pleaded guilty in 2010 in connection with a conspiracy to bribe officials of the Vietnamese government in exchange for lucrative contracts to supply equipment and technology.

Hamann also worked on the Helmerich & Payne case. The Oklahoma-based company, which provides oil drilling rigs and equipment, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ in August 2009. As part of the agreement, H&P acknowledged responsibility for the actions of its subsidiaries, employees and agents who paid bribes to Argentine and Venezuelan customs services, and the company agreed to pay a US$1 million penalty.

Hamann was a prosecutor on the Innospec case, which stemmed from the United Nations’ oil-for-food programme.

Hamann was a member of the team prosecuting Ousama Naaman, a former sales agent for Innospec who pleaded guilty to facilitating bribes with Iraqi officials.

Hamann also worked on the prosecution of former ITXC Corporation executive Steven Ott, who was sentenced to serve five years probation in 2008 for his role in a foreign bribery scheme involving telecommunications contracts in Africa.

In 2010, Kathleen became the DOJ's international policy counsel on anti-corruption, and represented the authority before the OECD. She received the Assistant Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service for her work with the OECD.

Hamann earned her undergraduate degree from Carleton College and went to law school at Georgetown University Law Center.