Jonathan C. Poling has left the Justice Department’s National Security Division to join Baker & McKenzie LLP in Washington.
Poling had been a trial attorney in the division’s Counterespionage Section and will be a partner in the firm’s trade compliance practice.
At the Justice Department, Poling prosecuted high-profile export enforcement cases including U.S. v. Balli Aviation. From October 2007 and July 2008, Balli Aviation Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Balli Group PLC, conspired to export three Boeing 747 aircraft from the United States to Iran without proper licensing.
Jonathan Poling
The company agreed in 2010 to pay a $2 million criminal fine and be put on five years of corporate probation. The company and its parent agreed to pay $15 million civil settlement with the Commerce and Treasury Departments.
In 2012, Ulrich Davis, a Dutch citizen, was sentenced to six months in prison after being prosecuted by Poling for facilitating the illegal export of products to Iran. Davis, a former manager at a Netherlands-based freight-forwarding company, had admitted to violating a temporary denial order to ship products that he knew were prohibited.
Other cases have involved issues related to export control, counter proliferation and trade cases involving the Arms Export Control Act and International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Poling has trained domestic and foreign law enforcement in export control enforcement and served on the Justice Department’s Foreign Investment Review Staff, which participates in the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States review process.
“Our clients are increasingly taking a holistic approach to compliance, and we are expanding our top-tier team in D.C. to advise companies facing a patchwork of global regulations and increased enforcement,” Elizabeth Espin Stern, managing partner of the firm’s Washington office, said in a statement.
As the Justice Department continues to push prosecutions of export crimes and the U.S. government overhauls its decades-old export control regulations, firms have sought experienced practitioners like Poling to help advise clients.
Poling is a 2002 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and was an associate at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP before joining the Justice Department in 2008.
During his time as a prosecutor, Poling was awarded the Assistant Attorney General for National Security Division’s Special Commendation Award in 2009 and the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement Award for Excellence in 2010. He received the National Security Division’s Award for Excellence from 2008 to 2010.
