View From the Top: Updates in Regulatory Trends Across Sectors

Molly Moeser is the Acting Chief of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. Molly previously served as the Principal Deputy Chief of the Section and the Deputy Chief of the Bank Integrity Unit (BIU). As BIU Chief, she oversaw investigations and prosecutions of financial institutions and related individuals and entities for any criminal violations, including violations of the money laundering laws, U.S. economic sanctions, and the Bank Secrecy Act. Molly has prosecuted financial institutions, including banks and money services businesses, and individuals for criminal violations including Bank Secrecy Act, money laundering, wire fraud, and sanctions violations.

Before joining DOJ, Molly worked at a private law firm in Los Angeles, representing clients in all phases of civil litigation from internal investigations to trial. Before law school, Molly worked for U.S. Senator Carl Levin from Michigan. Molly graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, cum laude, and Swarthmore College.

Maria Dinzeo is a reporter at ALM Global.

Rebecca Unruh is the Acting Deputy Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. Rebecca received her JD from the NYU School of Law.

Melissa R. Hodgman is an Associate Director in the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She joined the Commission in 2008, became Senior Counsel in 2009, joined the newly formed Market Abuse Unit in 2010, was promoted to Assistant Director in 2012, and to Associate Director in 2016. Melissa served as the Acting Director in 2021. She was an Associate at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. She obtained a BSFS in 1990, a JD Magna cum Laude in 1994, and an LLM in Securities with Distinction in 2007 from Georgetown University.

Andrea M. Griswold is currently the Deputy United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Griswold assumed this role in May of 2023.

Prior to her appointment as the Deputy United States Attorney, Ms. Griswold served for a year as the Chief Counsel to the United States Attorney. In this role, she advised the United States Attorney on matters across the Criminal and Civil Divisions, including on many of the Office’s most complex and sensitive investigations.

From June 2020 until June 2022, Ms. Griswold served as Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, first as the Deputy Chief and then as Chief or Co-Chief. During her two years leading this unit, Ms. Griswold supervised a series of significant individual and corporate investigations and prosecutions relating to market manipulation, insider trading, investor fraud, and accounting and valuation fraud. Many of the cases brought under Ms. Griswold’s leadership focused on private funds, SPACs, cryptocurrency and digital assets.

Ms. Griswold began an Assistant United States Attorney in the Office in 2013. Prior to becoming a Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in 2020, Ms. Griswold investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of significant securities fraud and public corruption cases, many involving senior executives associated with private funds for securities fraud.

In her ten years in the Office, Ms. Griswold has served in additional leadership roles, including as an Acting Chief of the Narcotics Unit. Ms. Griswold also Co-Chaired the Office’s Technology Committee, which she founded in 2020 to address the growing complexity and volume of electronic evidence in investigations. Ms. Griswold also founded and currently Co-Chairs the Office’s Artificial Intelligence Working Group.

Prior to her public service, Ms. Griswold worked for more than five years as an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Ms. Griswold received her B.A. cum laude from Georgetown University and her J.D. from New York University School of Law.