Tom BestTomBest
Partner, Investigation & White Collar Defense
Tom Best is an international investigations, enforcement defense and compliance lawyer and a partner in the Investigations and White Collar Defense practice of Paul Hastings, based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. For more than 20 years he has successfully defended some of the largest and most complex international investigations and enforcement matters before the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, U.K. Serious Fraud Office, U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and other enforcement agencies around the world.
Global coordinating defense counsel on a half-billion-dollar settlement between a global financial institution and the U.S. DOJ, U.S. SEC, U.K. FCA and other national law enforcement agencies relating to corruption and fraud allegations in a sub-Saharan African country.
Secured a declination-of-prosecution from the U.S. DOJ, U.S. SEC and U.S. OFAC on behalf of a major European industrial conglomerate relating to an Eastern European nation and allegations of corruption and sanctions violations.
- Leading Global Investigations Lawyers
Lawdragon
- International Trade: Customs, Export Controls and Economic Sanctions
Legal 500 (2024)
- “Sanctioning Corruption or Corrupting Sanctions?”, International Bar Association Anti-Corruption Committee Annual Meetings, ModeratorJUNE 25, 2025
- “Behind the Scenes of Sanctions Evasion: How Russia Evaded Sanctions to Transport Oil with the Grey and Dark Fleet”, ACI Annual Sanctions Conference, ModeratorMAY 1, 2025