Robert A. Johnston Jr.

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Robert Johnston is a partner in the firm’s Investment Management Group and White Collar Defense Practice, and he focuses on internal investigations, SEC examinations and enforcement, regulatory compliance advice and counseling, compliance program design and implementation, cross-border due diligence, compliance auditing and monitoring, and commercial disputes. He regularly advises investment advisers, family offices, hedge funds and private equity funds, and their related portfolio companies on matters related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-money laundering (AML) statutes and related know your customer (KYC) regulations, trade sanctions, and compliance best practices.

Rob has led investigations and compliance projects in over 30 countries across six continents on behalf of U.S. and multinational corporations. He has investigated alleged violations of AML, FCPA, OFAC, RICO, accounting fraud, securities fraud, procurement fraud, illegal gratuities, tax evasion, and employee embezzlement and misconduct. He frequently counsels clients on matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and other state and local regulatory bodies.

In addition to complex regulatory enforcement matters and internal investigations, clients turn to Rob for his knowledge of compliance program design and implementation. He provides clear, commercial, practical, and actionable compliance advice that balances business objectives and risk management.

Furthermore, he has extensive experience with compliance monitoring, having advised a publicly traded financial institution through the timely resolution of a three-year monitor imposed by the DOJ and SEC, served as counsel to a World Bank-imposed monitor of a logistics company, and counseled a construction company as it agreed to the imposition of a World Bank-imposed monitor.

Prior to joining Lowenstein, Rob held several in-house legal and compliance roles at Sculptor Capital Management, formerly known as Och-Ziff, most recently as Managing Director and General Counsel-Asia and previously as Deputy Chief Compliance Officer. During his time at Sculptor, he developed an industry-leading FCPA and AML compliance program through the development and implementation of numerous proprietary, web-based, technological solutions.

Before Sculptor Capital, Rob practiced securities litigation at two Am Law 100 firms, with a focus on internal investigations, white collar criminal defense, compliance advice, and M&A due diligence. He spent a year in the Shanghai office of one firm, where he acted on behalf of multinational corporations investigating allegations of bribery, corruption, and fraud in their Chinese and East Asian operations.

Rob’s pro bono work includes advising a South American nation on its judiciary modernization efforts and on the implementation of newly enacted anti-money laundering laws similar to the U.S. Patriot Act.

Rob speaks French and Spanish.