Sanctioned Jurisdictions and Third Country Circumvention Roundtable

Zia Ullah is Co-Global Head of Corporate Crime and Investigations at Eversheds Sutherland and a Board Member of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP. Zia is a globally recognized authority in International Sanctions and has led multiple cross-border sanctions investigations. He advises on all aspects of corporate and financial crime and was previously the Global Head of Sanctions at Barclays. Zia is a current FCA ‘Skilled Person’ for Financial Crime. Zia and his team have provided strategic advice to over 100 global institutions with respect to the legal, regulatory and commercial issues arising from the expansion of UK, EU and US sanctions against Russia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. His team has also advised on the impact on sanctions compliance frameworks, divestment activity in Russia, the application of exemptions and licences, and the reporting requirements in light of potential breaches of sanctions.

Olivia Allison has more than 15 years' experience of investigating illicit finance and trade, both in the private sector and for policymakers. As a former partner at KPMG, she has led international fraud and corruption investigations and helped state-owned companies to implement compliance and governance solutions. Her recent publications have focused on how financial institutions implement trade sanctions, third-country sanctions evasion and circumvention, and Russian illicit finance in occupied territories (launched 14 May 2025). She continues to advise private companies on compliance and investigations matters with PRISM Strategic Intelligence. Recently, she has established the Sanctions Evasion and Circumvention Typologies Alerts (SECTA), which aims to provide typologies to support financial institutions' compliance with trade-related sanctions.