David H. Laufman

Mr. Laufman represents entities and individuals in congressional investigations and provides counsel and assistance regarding compliance with FARA, U.S. export control and sanctions laws, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and government ethics laws. He also represents entities and individuals in federal white-collar criminal investigations and regulatory enforcement actions, as well as Inspector General investigations and national security matters.

Mr. Laufman draws on his extensive government experience in serving his clients. He previously served as Chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section at the Department of Justice, where he oversaw the investigation and prosecution of offenses concerning FARA, U.S. export control and sanctions laws, the theft of trade secrets, espionage, and the mishandling and unlawful disclosure of classified information. Mr. Laufman also previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General, Associate Independent Counsel, Investigative Counsel to the House Ethics Committee, and as a political and military analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.

Prior to joining Caplin & Drysdale, Mr. Laufman was a partner at a national law firm where he represented clients in FARA compliance and investigative matters, federal white-collar investigations and regulatory enforcement actions, as well as in congressional investigations, Inspector General investigations,  and national security matters. While at the firm, he served as Co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Representative Matters

• Assisted personal counsel to President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. in Special Counsel Robert K. Hur’s Investigation Into Unauthorized Removal, Retention, and Disclosure of Classified Documents Discovered at Locations Including the Penn Biden Center and the Delaware Private Residence of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
• Counseled strategic communications firms, law firms, and consulting firms on their registration obligations under FARA, assisting with FARA registrations and supplemental disclosure filings, and responding to investigative inquiries by the FARA Unit at the Department of Justice.
• Represented a journalist as a third-party witness in the defamation lawsuit by US Dominion Inc. against Fox News Network regarding allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
• Provided FARA compliance counsel to a major American sports league.
• Represented Gitcho Goodwin, a U.S. public relations firm, in a FARA compliance investigation by the Department of Justice concerning the firm’s work for LIV Golf.
• Represented U.S. Capitol Police officers Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn regarding their witness testimony at a July 27, 2021, hearing before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol. Also assisted Officers Gonell and Dunn regarding their testimony in criminal trials of defendants charged with offenses relating to the attack on the Capitol.
• Obtained a “no action letter” from the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) in a civil enforcement investigation regarding potential violations of U.S. sanctions laws by an international consulting firm.
• Represented a prominent American “China expert” in an administrative FARA investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
• Represented Adam D. DeMarco, a Major in the District of Columbia National Guard, regarding his whistleblower testimony on July 28, 2020, at a hearing before the Committee on National Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives on “Unanswered Questions About the U.S. Park Police’s June 1 Attack on Peaceful Protesters at Lafayette Square.”
• Represented a former senior official in the U.S. Intelligence Community in a congressional investigation regarding a public letter he co-signed about a potential Russian government influence operation in the United States, and in defense of a related complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission by former President Donald J. Trump.
• Obtained multiple OFAC licenses, and authorization for the release of blocked funds, for an international consulting firm in a sensitive sanctions matter involving a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity.
• Represented an individual in connection with the September 2018 confirmation hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Represented a senior official of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in parallel investigations of “Operation Fast and Furious” by the House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, and the Office of Special Counsel.

Bar & Court Admissions

• District of Columbia
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, District of Columbia

Education

J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1987, Editor, Georgetown Immigration Law Journal

B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1979, magna cum laude

Experience

• Foreign Agents Registration Act: What Lawyers Need to Know in an Aggressive Enforcement Environment, Practicing Law Institute, 2019-2022 (annual online FARA training, with variations in program title)
• Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University School of Law Lecturer, Congressional Ethics Investigations (2001-2022)
• Lecturer, The Justice Department’s Enforcement of U.S. Export Control and Sanctions Laws, American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC (2018-2019)
• S. Department of Justice Prosecutions of Export Control and Sanctions Violations, Executive Masters in International Trade Compliance, University of Liverpool, London, United Kingdom, January 26, 2017 (3-hour lecture)
• National Advocacy Center, U.S. Department of Justice, Lecturer, Export Control and Sanctions Investigations (2015-2017)
• Feeding Frenzy: The Perils of Congressional Investigations, Continuing Legal Education Seminar, New York, New York, May 6, 2009

Honors & Recognitions

Chambers USA, Political Law, 2021-2024

John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement, Department of Justice, 2006

FBI Director’s Award for Outstanding Counterterrorism Investigation, 2007

Award for Excellence in Investigations from the Council of the Inspectors General, 2011