Robert Broadbent, former acting associate general counsel for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Office of General Counsel, has joined Womble Bond as a partner in its Government Contracts and Cross-Border Trade practice. Based in the Charlottesville, Virginia, office, Broadbent will focus on "international trade and national security matters," including sanctions compliance, export control matters, foreign investment and security reviews, and trade agreement and foreign market access strategies, the firm said.

Miller & Chevalier international lawyer Christopher Stagg is co-chairing the American Bar Association's export controls and economic sanctions committee, he announced on LinkedIn. Stagg joined Miller & Chevalier in 2021 after serving as a senior policy adviser with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls at the State Department. At Miller, he focuses on export controls, economic sanctions and Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. matters.

Kenneth Polite, former assistant attorney general for DOJ's Criminal Division, will join Sidley on Oct. 1 as a partner and co-leader of its white collar government litigation and investigations practice. Polite's practice will center on "white collar criminal defense, investigation, and compliance matters," Sidley said. For the past two years, Polite has been working in his Senate-confirmed position at DOJ, leading a team of over 1,400 attorneys and staff responsible for carrying out criminal investigations of securities fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, money laundering offenses and public corruption, the firm said. Polite previously served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Consultant CT Strategies hired former DHL Express executive Gordon Wright to be executive director of its European operations, the company announced this week. Wright, former vice president of customs and regulatory affairs at DHL and a former official with the European Commission, will help CT Strategies improve its “customs and trade facilitation expertise globally.”

Alan Levesque, former senior managing director at Ankura and former vice president at Raytheon, has joined Wiggin and Dana as a partner in the litigation and international trade compliance practices. Based in Washington, D.C., Levesque's practice will draw from his experience leading Ankura and Raytheon through export consent agreements, Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. audits, and "complex regulatory and enforcement issues," the firm said. Levesque brings a lengthy resume to Wiggin and Dana, including stints at Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Sundstrand, and Nufern.

Andrew Adams, the DOJ attorney at the head of Task Force KleptoCapture -- the interagency body charged with enforcing U.S. sanctions on Russia -- left the department, he said on his LinkedIn page. Adams will return to his role as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which he originally assumed in 2013. He was appointed to lead the task force in March of last year after leading the SDNY Attorney's Office's Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit. Bloomberg reported that Adams will be replaced by Michael Khoo and David Lim, both of whom have worked in the task force since its early days. DOJ didn't comment.

Anna Dias, former partner at Gide Loyrette, has joined DLA Piper as an international trade partner in the Brussels office, the firm announced. Dias' practice will center on international trade law and EU regulatory matters with a special focus on antidumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard proceedings along with World Trade Organization rules-related advice, the firm said. She also works on EU sanctions compliance. Prior to working at Gide Loyrette, Dias worked for the Brazilian Mission to the WTO in Geneva.

The State Department appointed Timothy Betts acting deputy assistant secretary for the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, according to DDTC’s personnel page, which was updated this month. Betts, who was previously the acting coordinator for counterterrorism and acting special envoy for the global coalition to defeat the Islamic State group, started in the new role in May, according to his LinkedIn page. Betts is the latest official to take over after the departure of Mike Miller in December, who left to become the deputy director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (see 2212120004). Miller had been temporarily replaced by Catherine Hamilton, DDTC’s licensing director. An agency spokesperson at the time said the “position will rotate among DDTC directorates office directors until a new permanent deputy assistant secretary is formally selected and announced."

Carol Lee, former associate at Clifford Chance, has joined Womble Bond as a partner in the business litigation group. Lee's practice will center on export controls, economic sanctions, Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. proceedings and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters, the firm said.

Joseph Cristofaro left his position as chair of the End-User Review Committee to become the new director of the Bureau of Industry and Security's Sensors and Aviation Division, he announced during a July 18 technical advisory committee meeting. Cristofaro said he started his new role in late May.