Overview
Dainia Jabaji is a partner in Steptoe's International Trade and Regulatory Compliance practice. She advises financial institutions, multinational companies, fintechs, individuals, and other organizations on sanctions, AML/CFT, financial crime, white-collar investigations, and high-stakes regulatory matters.
Her work often begins where the regulatory answer is only part of the problem: a transaction has been flagged, a payment held, a government inquiry received, the facts are still developing, or a sound compliance decision has created difficult operational, commercial, or reputational consequences. Dainia helps clients understand what the law requires, what the facts support, and what options remain.
Whether a client is responding to government scrutiny, investigating an incident, or trying to make a difficult decision before a problem escalates, Dainia assists clients in their time of need with practical, clear-eyed advice. She represents companies and individuals in white-collar, regulatory, and enforcement investigations involving financial crime, economic sanctions and related matters before the US Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice (DOJ), and banking regulators. She also leads internal investigations and advises on compliance programs, policies and procedures, risk assessments, voluntary disclosures, license applications, delisting petitions, and related matters.
Drawing on her experience leading internal regulatory investigations at one of the world's largest financial institutions, Dainia understands regulatory problems from inside the institution as well as from the counsel's chair. She understands not only the applicable regulatory framework, but the interplay among compliance, legal, business teams, leadership, risk appetite, customer relationships, and operational realities. That perspective is particularly valuable when the legal question is clear but the decision is not, or when a client's first view of the problem may not tell the whole story.
Dainia has particular experience with complex, cross-border sanctions and financial crime investigations and regulatory matters involving international payment systems, emerging technologies, and digital assets. Her practice also includes related civil litigation and class actions, as well as matters where legal, regulatory, operational, governance, and reputational risks converge.
Dainia also advises humanitarian and mission-driven organizations navigating sanctions and other legal and practical obstacles to carry out international activities. Her commitment to this work extends to a robust pro bono practice, including international humanitarian relief efforts and asylum matters.
She is a frequent speaker and writer on sanctions, AML, and financial crime issues and is actively engaged in professional and community organizations focused on compliance, inclusion, and justice.
- District of Columbia
- New York
- California
- J.D., University at Buffalo School of Law
- B.S., The College at Brockport, State University of New York
Areas of Work
Representative Matters
- Represented a top bank in a Department of Justice Integrity Unit-led criminal investigation into a multi-year money laundering scheme involving an employee.
- Negotiated settlements with substantial penalty reductions on behalf of clients, including a fintech bank with a bank regulator, related to alleged AML program failures, and on behalf of a shipping industry client with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for alleged sanctions violations.
- Secured summary judgment for a top bank in a landmark discrimination class action lawsuit brought by a former customer related to the bank’s AML/OFAC compliance policies and due diligence procedures.
- Defended banking clients in litigation related to alleged “debanking” and “derisking” practices.
- Successfully petitioned OFAC for the delisting of individuals and entities from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list (“SDN List”), resulting in the unblocking of such persons and their property after decades of seizure.
- Assisted in drafting hundreds of voluntary self-disclosures to OFAC of potential sanctions violations.
- Petitioned FinCEN for the delisting of a foreign bank from FinCEN’s 311 List.
- Secured settlement for Fox News in high-profile and landmark First Amendment-related defamation case, Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network.
Speaking Engagements
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"Compliance, Sanctions & AML," EU-Arab Legal Summit, The Hague, June 21, 2026
- "Middle East Sanctions Compliance Roundtable," ACI Annual New York Forum on Economic Sanctions, Speaker, Dec. 3, 2025
- "International Trade Under Trump 2.0 – Emerging Risks, Trends, and Forecasts," Palestinian American Bar Association Conference, Moderator, Oct. 11, 2025
- "Sanctions 101: Sanctions Impacting Palestine and Related Compliance Considerations," Palestinian American Bar Association Webinar, Co‑Presenter, Nov. 25, 2024
- "Newly Emerging High‑Risk Jurisdictions," ACI Women in Sanctions Network Webinar, Co‑Presenter, Oct. 25, 2023
- "A Needle in a Paystack: Best Practices in Identifying Sanctioned Countries," Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists Webinar, Panelist, July 20, 2023
News & Publications
International Compliance Blog
Treasury Launches New Broad Iran Sanctions Initiative and Expands Secondary Sanctions Risk
August 27, 2026
International Compliance Blog
US Provides Temporary Iran Sanctions Relief with the Potential for More to Come
June 23, 2026
By: Steptoe's Economic Sanctions Practice
Press Releases
Steptoe Adds High-Impact Four-Partner Team to Enhance DC Global Enforcement and Litigation Practice
May 18, 2026
Noteworthy
News & Publications
- "US Treasury Seeks Public Comment on the Implementation of the GENIUS Act," Financial Innovation & Regulation, Co‑Author, Nov. 10, 2025
- "Bankers Worldwide: You May Not Be Interested in Export Controls, But They Are Interested in You," Banking Law Journal, Co‑Author, Mar. 2025
- "Litigation Versus the Treasury in a Post ‘Chevron Deference’ Doctrine World," Financier Worldwide Magazine, Co‑Author, Jan. 22, 2025
- "Russia Sanctions and Considerations in Building a Sanctions Compliance Programme," Journal of Financial Compliance, Co‑Author, Summer 2021
Professional Affiliations
- Selected Participant, National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) 2024 Leadership Program
- American Bar Association
- New York State Bar Association
- District of Columbia Bar Association
- Palestinian American Bar Association
- Los Angeles Association of Business Trial Lawyers
- Enterprise Member, Association of Certified Anti‑Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS)
- ACI Women in Sanctions Network
- Board Member, Alliance for Inclusion and Justice