Charlie began his federal career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 12 years, first in Washington DC and then in Phoenix AZ. He conducted dozens of grand jury investigations, 27 jury trials, and several non-jury trials. He also briefed several appeals and argued 15 cases before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and District of Columbia Circuits and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

He returned to Washington from Arizona in 1999 to take a position as an FBI Deputy General Counsel, overseeing first the Criminal Investigative Law Branch and then, after 9/11, the National Security Law Branch. He later served as Chief of Staff to the FBI Director until 2006, when he was appointed Chief of Staff in DOJ’s newly formed National Security Division, the first new litigating component formed in DOJ since 1957.

In 2009 Charlie moved to the Treasury Department to become Deputy Director of FinCEN, which is the administrator of the BSA and the U.S. Financial Intelligence Unit. He then moved to OFAC to lead its Enforcement Division. He later served as Deputy Chief Counsel at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (overseeing among others the BSA/AML and sanctions lawyers and the Enforcement and Compliance Division). From there he was recruited to return to OFAC as Chief Counsel. He retired from the government in March 2020.

Charlie’s private-sector experience includes stints at two international law firms (working first on anti-bribery and corruption matters, and later on sanctions and BSA/AML matters) and in a Big Four forensic consulting practice.