Expert Witness Services
Levin & Associates provides expert witness services in matters involving financial crime, asset forfeiture, money laundering, sanctions/OFAC, and AML/BSA compliance. The firm’s expert work is led by Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor and former Chief of Asset Forfeiture in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches courses on financial enforcement, monetary sanctions, and the legal architecture of modern anti-money-laundering systems.
Mr. Levin has been retained as an expert witness by leading litigation firms in both civil and criminal matters where courts and juries require a clear explanation of how financial enforcement systems operate in practice. His work includes the preparation of expert reports, deposition testimony, and trial testimony addressing sanctions compliance, watchlist screening systems, financial-crime investigations, asset forfeiture practices, and AML/BSA compliance programs.
His testimony frequently addresses how financial enforcement mechanisms actually function in real investigative and compliance environments — how sanctions lists are implemented operationally, how watchlist-screening systems generate matches, how investigators build financial-crime cases from banking records and payment-rail data, and how financial institutions design and implement compliance controls under regulatory expectations.
Representative Expert Engagements
- Sanctions screening and watchlist systems — expert witness in litigation involving the operation of OFAC-related screening systems and identity-matching practices used in tenant-screening and financial-risk databases. Retained by a firm in litigation involving allegations concerning sanctions and watchlist screening methodologies and identity-matching procedures.
- OFAC screening and compliance systems — previously retained as an expert in related litigation involving sanctions screening and watchlist identification systems used by consumer reporting and risk-assessment companies, including matters involving company screening systems.
- Financial-crime investigative practices — expert analysis regarding how investigators build “follow-the-money” cases using bank records, subpoenas, payment-rail data, correspondent banking information, and communications evidence.
- Sanctions compliance and enforcement — expert testimony regarding OFAC compliance systems, SDN list screening practices, name-matching methodologies, and the risk of false positives and mistaken identity in sanctions-screening systems.
Areas of Expertise
- Asset forfeiture and restraint. Tracing analysis, proceeds and substitute-asset theories, seizure mechanics, innocent-owner issues, and the litigation dynamics created by restraint posture.
- Money laundering and financial-crime investigations. Investigative use of bank records, correspondent accounts, intermediaries, payment-rail data, subpoenas, and communications evidence in evaluating laundering theories and source-of-funds narratives.
- AML/BSA compliance. Suspicious activity reporting concepts, KYC and enhanced due diligence expectations, documentation and escalation practices, and how financial institutions design and defend compliance controls in enforcement environments.
- Sanctions and OFAC compliance. IEEPA-based sanctions frameworks, SDN screening systems, ownership and control analysis, blocked-property concepts, licensing considerations, and sanctions-screening architecture.
- Watchlist screening and identity-matching systems. Operation of sanctions and watchlist databases, algorithmic name-matching processes, sources of false positives and false negatives, and the interaction between automated screening tools and human review.
- Cross-border financial enforcement. Practical issues involving international counterparties, correspondent banking relationships, documentary constraints, and the impact of cross-border facts on enforcement posture.
What the Testimony Delivers
Mr. Levin’s expert testimony focuses on translating complex compliance and enforcement systems into explanations that are clear, methodologically sound, and understandable to courts and juries.
- Expert reports grounded in enforcement experience and documentary analysis
- Deposition and trial testimony designed to educate the factfinder
- Methodologies structured to satisfy Rule 702 and Daubert standards
- Consulting and testifying roles tailored to the needs of the litigation team
Matters Suited for Expert Engagement
Levin & Associates is typically retained in cases involving sanctions-screening disputes, watchlist or SDN misidentification issues, allegations of money laundering or illicit finance, forfeiture and tracing disputes, compliance program adequacy, and investigations driven by financial records and payment-system evidence.
The firm works closely with counsel to define the assignment, build a clear expert record, and present opinions that are technically rigorous and accessible to the factfinder.
