Kian Meshkat
Kian Meshkat specializes in international trade law including U.S. and
multilateral economic sanctions and export controls, and anti-money laundering
and counter-terrorism finance compliance. He handles projects and counsels
clients concerning compliance with the economic sanctions regulations
administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Export
Administrations Regulations (EAR) administered by the Bureau of Industry
and Security (BIS), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR),
and anti-money laundering regulations administered by the Treasury’s
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). His practice spans all
aspects of these laws and regulations, including counseling, compliance
work, transactional advice, licensing and opinion work, disclosures, list
removal requests (OFAC SDN List, and BIS administered lists), and enforcement actions.
Mr. Meshkat has designed comprehensive international sanctions and export
controls compliance programs, and assisted the due diligence efforts of
multi-national organizations. He routinely provides clients in the aerospace,
pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries with advice and assistance
in export licensing issues before OFAC and BIS. A significant part of
his practice entails assisting clients from around the world in their
de-listing petitions before OFAC and BIS.
Mr. Meshkat was the sole author of
The Burden of Economic Sanctions on Iranian-Americans, published in the Georgetown Journal of International Law (Spring 2013).
The article is an extensive analysis of how U.S. persons and businesses
are impacted by U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. The article examined
the consequences of broad executive power in foreign affairs, judicial
deference to foreign policy and national security issues, Due Process
concerns under the United States Constitution, and the risks posed to
the system of checks and balances.
Mr. Meshkat previously interned at the California/Mexico Border Trade Office
of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration
where he gained extensive experience with U.S. export controls as applied
to the aerospace and defense industry, the President's Export Control
Reform Initiative, and the Wassenaar Arrangement, an international export
controls convention. Meanwhile, Mr. Meshkat also authored
A Retrospective on the NAFTA and Agrarian Reform in Mexico, published in the Houmbolt American Comparative Law Review (2011), analyzing
the benefits of free trade agreements.
Mr. Meshkat received his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California
San Diego in 2009, with honors, and his J.D. from the University of San
Diego School of Law in 2012. While in law school he served as an Honor
Court Justice, was Vice-President of the International Human Rights Law
Society, and a contestant in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights-Moot
Court Competition.