TEL:+1 202.955.8266
FAX:+1 202.831.6014
1050 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-5306 USA
Audi Syarief is a Senior Associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and a member of the firm’s International Trade Practice Group.
He advises clients on U.S. economic sanctions and export controls. Audi is experienced in assessing civil and criminal enforcement risk, conducting internal investigations, strengthening trade compliance programs, and developing restricted-party screening protocols. He routinely advocates before OFAC, BIS, and DDTC, and has secured licenses and approvals, filed voluntary self-disclosures, responded to administrative subpoenas, resolved enforcement matters, and engaged in various other agency-engagement efforts to further client interests. Audi also regularly conducts due diligence reviews on a full range of corporate transactions and financings from an international trade perspective, and frequently on behalf of private equity firms. He also advises on trade-related issues raised in civil litigation and arbitration matters.
Audi services both U.S. and non-U.S. clients, operating across economic sectors. He often advises on potential touchpoints with jurisdictions like Burma, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Syria. He is also well-versed in the application of sanctions authorizations and exemptions relating to telecommunications, information, and the internet (e.g., the Berman Amendment, General License D-2). He has helped social media platforms, firms in the virtual currency space, and numerous other companies understand, apply, and leverage these authorizations.
Audi maintains an active pro bono practice, representing non-profit clients on trade matters and successfully securing asylum for clients from El Salvador and Indonesia. He and his team were awarded “2023 Pro Bono Attorneys of the Year” by the Northern Virginia office of non-profit partner Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), and were nominated for Gibson Dunn’s “2023 Frank Wheat Memorial Award.” The D.C. Access To Justice Commission has named Audi to its annual Pro Bono Honor Roll each year, from 2016 through 2022.
In his spare time, Audi teaches a class on sanctions and export controls at Georgetown Law, and regularly publishes and speaks on these topics. Audi serves as the Chair of the Export Controls, Sanctions, and Anticorruption Subcommittee of the IBA’s International Commerce and Distribution Committee, and is a co-organizer of the Committee’s 2024 Specialist Conference in Washington, D.C. He also advises Law360 on their international trade coverage as a member of the publication’s advisory board.
Informing his international trade practice is his prior work on civil litigation, white collar criminal defense, and government contract matters. Audi has litigated Cuba-related cases under the Helms-Burton Act, and advised on potential recovery and risks under the statute. He has helped secure the termination of a four-year SEC accounting fraud investigation of a global financial institution. He was also instrumental in negotiating with DOE a successful closeout of an energy company’s multi-million dollar cooperative agreement.
Audi previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Timothy J. Kelly of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia, where he was an editor of the Virginia Law Review. Audi earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Rutgers University. At Rutgers, and in collaboration with the Institute for Domestic and International Affairs (IDIA), he organized Model United Nations conferences and other educational initiatives for high school students. He now serves on IDIA’s board of directors, and on the board of the Rutgers Alumni Association.
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University of Virginia - 2015 Juris Doctor
Rutgers University - 2011 Bachelor of Arts
District of Columbia Bar