Tom Ott
Tom Ott has served as Senior Advisor to the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), United States Department of the Treasury, since May 2014. FinCEN’s mission is to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities. Ott provides leadership on policy and enforcement matters addressing various transnational threats.
Prior to his current position, Ott was a prosecutor for over 25 years with the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Among other assignments, he served in the Department’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section (OCRS) from 2001 to 2014; he was named Deputy Chief of OCRS in 2006; and was appointed Deputy Chief for International Organized Crime in the OCGS in 2011. Throughout his career, he has prosecuted and supervised prosecutions of numerous multi-defendant international cases charging RICO, financial fraud, cybercrime, money laundering, narcotics, extortion and public corruption. He worked with the Organized Crime Strike Forces nationwide to target Eurasian organized crime groups; including the indictment of a prominent leader, Semion Mogilevich, who is currently on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. Ott assisted in developing the Department's Law Enforcement Strategy to Combat International Organized Crime (IOC); and served five years as the Chair of the IOC Targeting Committee, which is comprised of federal law enforcement executives from multiple agencies. He has frequently lectured on transnational organized crime to U.S. and foreign law enforcement officials and has had two articles published on the strategies used to combat international organized crime. He continues to participate in interagency meetings hosted by the National Security Council to discuss the evolving threats posed by transnational organized crime and responsive U.S. strategies.
Ott received his Juris Doctorate degree in 1988 from the University of Baltimore School of Law. He has been the recipient of The Attorney General's John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation, the Assistant Attorney General's Award for Reduction and Deterrence of Violent and Organized Crime, and several Special Achievement Awards.