James H. Freis Jr. (born October 27, 1970) is an American lawyer and financial industry executive who from 2007 to 2012 served as the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

's 6th Director of the

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions to combat domestic and international money laundering, terrori ...

(FinCEN), where he expanded the scope of the anti-money laundering regulations and became known for spearheading efforts to combat fraud and implementing modern data analysis. He was an attorney and central banker at the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the New York (state), State of New York, the 12 norther ...

and the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...

. From 2014 to 2020, he was the Group Chief Compliance Officer of the Deutsche Börse Group, Europe's largest provider of systemically significant financial market infrastructures. In June 2020, he joined Wirecard AG, where he is credited for promptly substantiating and initiating actions to stop the largest financial fraud in Germany's modern history, known publicly as the Wirecard scandal.Wirecard: The Downfall of a German Fintech Star
at Harvard Business School; by Jonas Heese, Charles C.Y. Wang, Tonia Labruyere; published March 2021; retrieved May 8, 2022 Since 2021, he has been active with fintech and startup companies.MoonPay Hires Wirecard Whistle-Blower CEO James Freis as Adviser
at Bloomberg; by Hannah Miller; published March 21, 2022; retrieved May 8, 2022

Early life and education

Freis was born in

Aberdeen, Maryland Aberdeen is a city located in Harford County, Maryland, United States, northeast of Baltimore. The population was 16,254 at the 2020 United States census. Aberdeen is the largest municipality in Harford County. Aberdeen is part of the Baltimo ...

, to James Henry Freis and Maria Freis, and raised in

Metuchen, New Jersey Metuchen ( ) is a suburban Borough (New Jersey), borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valle ...

, where he attended St. Joseph High School. His mother is a retired nurse and social worker. His father, who passed away in August 2020, was a first-generation student at St. Peter's College, graduating

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

in 1966. He graduated in 1969 from Villanova Law School, before departing to Germany with the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

from 1970 to 1972. Freis Sr. spent his career practicing corporate law with a single law firm, which later became Drinker Biddle & Reath through mergers. Freis attended

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, graduating magna cum laude in 1992 with an A.B. in economics with honors and government/international relations, a certificate in German area studies and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

. While at Georgetown, he competed on the varsity heavyweight rowing crew. He then earned his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

cum laude from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1995. While at Harvard, Freis was a Senior Editor of the '' Harvard Environmental Law Review''. He became a

Chartered Financial Analyst The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the US-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and financia ...

charterholder in 2002.Financial Innovation and Market Structure
at CFA Institute; by Ron Rimkus; published May 1, 2015; retrieved December 12, 2020 After graduating from Harvard, Freis served as a fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation in Germany. From 1995 to 1996 he worked in the German Federal Banking Supervisory Office in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Bayerische Vereinsbank The ''Bayerische Vereinsbank'' () was a German bank founded in 1869 in Munich. It developed into one of the largest regional banks in Germany, before merging in 1998 with Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechsel-Bank (also known as Hypo-Bank) to form ...

, a German universal bank in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Early career

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Freis joined the

's legal department as an Attorney in 1996,Secretary Paulson Names James H. Freis, Jr. as the New Director of FinCEN
at U.S. Department of the Treasury; published March 5, 2007; retrieved December 12, 2020 where he advised on financial market regulations, payment and settlement system issues at wholesale and retail levels, and foreign government and central bank accounts. He worked on the successful defense before the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal of claims brought against the Bank by the

Central Bank of Iran The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI; ; SWIFT Code: BMJIIRTH), also known as ''Bank Markazi'', was established under the Iranian Banking and Monetary Act in 1960. It serves as the banker to the Iranian government and has the e ...

arising out of the

hostage crisis A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

Bank for International Settlements

In 1999, Freis moved to

Basel, Switzerland Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zurich and Geneva), with ...

and became Senior Counsel in the Legal Service at the

, an international organization known as the "bank for central banks." There he supported the provision of financial services to central banks; advised on international law such as privileges and immunities; and supported the Basel-based experts’ committees of global financial standard setters, through 2005.

United States Department of the Treasury

Freis joined the

in September 2005 as the first-ever Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement & Intelligence. Freis provided legal support and helped staff the Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence which was created in 2004, including supervising the legal counsel to the

, the

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade economic sanctions, ...

, and the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture. Freis served as lead negotiator on behalf of the United States Government on sensitive counter-terrorism programs and contributed to the

Terrorist Finance Tracking Program The Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) is a United States government program to access financial transactions on the international SWIFT network that was revealed by ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'' and the ''Los Angeles T ...

, and was also responsible for developing international financial measures against rogue states, such as part of Treasury's efforts against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Testimony of Stuart Levey
at Federal Register; published November 18, 2011; retrieved December 12, 2020
at New York Times; by Robin Wright; published October 31, 2008; retrieved December 12, 2020 and

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

.Success in Macau Bank Case Demonstrates Reach of U.S. Sanctions
at New York Times; by Steven Weisman; published June 26, 2007; retrieved December 12, 2020

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

Freis was appointed Director (CEO) of the

(FinCEN) on March 5, 2007, by United States Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson. At the time, FinCEN's mission was "''to safeguard the financial system from the abuses of financial crime, including terrorist financing, money laundering, and other illicit activity''."Annual Report 2007
at FinCEN.gov; published 2007; retrieved December 12, 2020 FinCEN had faced criticism from the financial industry over difficulties of complying with anti-money laundering regulations,In Focus: Full Plate to Greet Fincen's New Director
at American Banker; published April 9, 2007; retrieved December 12, 2020 which had been expanded in 2001 under USA PATRIOT Act, Title III. On June 22, 2006, Secretary Paulson visited FinCEN and together with Director Freis launched initiatives to improve FinCEN's Regulatory efficiency and effectiveness. Freis also oversaw FinCEN's broad IT Modernization Program to collect, analyze, and share data collected under FinCEN's regulatory authority, estimated to cost $120 million. While earlier FinCEN IT projects had failed, under Freis the modernization project was managed on time and budget. On the regulatory front, Freis expanded cooperation with State financial services regulators, and he expanded FinCEN's regulations to non-bank mortgage lenders,

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the New ...

and

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is an American publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons, Virginia.money services businesses and in July 2011, issued regulations for "prepaid access." The latter changes formed the basis for FinCEN regulation of virtual currency. In testifying before the Congress, Freis explained, "''Recognizing that payment systems evolve rapidly,... The rule was developed to be technologically neutral and hopefully cover new developments for years to come.''" Freis initiated rulemaking requiring financial institutions to collect information on beneficial owners of accounts. The final rule was issued in 2016, at which time President Obama in referencing the regulation “''call don Congress to pass new legislation that requires all companies formed inside the United States to report information about their real owners to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.''" On December 11, 2020, Congress mandated the remaining component of the decade old policy proposal, by including in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 a chapter expanding FinCEN's powers, most prominently requiring companies to disclose information about their beneficial owners which would be available to law enforcement through a national database to be developed and maintained by FinCEN. Freis also initiated rulemaking to implement a Congressional mandate to collect data on cross-border electronic transfers of funds, which was supported by law enforcement but faced criticism from the financial industry for potentially collecting too much data, and which has not yet been implemented. On an international basis, Freis also oversaw FinCEN's role as the

financial intelligence unit A financial intelligence unit (FIU) is a national agency responsible for receiving, analyzing, and disseminating financial information on suspicious or unusual financial activity from the financial industry and other entities or professions req ...

of the United States, and a member of the

Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units The Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units is an international organization that facilitates cooperation and intelligence sharing between national financial intelligence units (FIUs) to investigate and prevent money laundering and terror ...

. He promoted greater sharing of information among financial institutions, including on a cross-border basis. Under Freis, FinCEN worked closely with counterpart regulators and the financial intelligence unit in Mexico, and in law enforcement efforts along the Southwest Border. Freis left FinCEN after an apparent disagreement over how independent FinCEN should be as a

Bureau Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations *Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administra ...

of the Treasury Department. In September 2012, he was awarded the ''Treasury Medal'' as the longest serving FinCEN Director.

Post-Treasury career

In January 2013, Freis joined the international law firm

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (known as Cleary Gottlieb), formerly Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly & Cox and Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly, Steen & Hamilton, is an American multinational law firm headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York Cit ...

as counsel based in its Washington, D.C., office. He joined the firm's international banking and financial institutions practice and also advised on enforcement and regulatory matters.

Deutsche Börse Group

He was appointed effective April 1, 2014, as the new Chief Compliance Officer for the Deutsche Börse Group, to oversee compliance as well as responsibilities towards supervisory authorities, among all Group entities. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, the international financial market infrastructure provider includes the

Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (, former German name: , ''FWB'') is the world's 3rd oldest and 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time). Organisation Located in Frankfurt, ...

; the

Eurex Exchange Eurex Exchange is a German derivatives exchange which primarily offers trading in European based derivatives. The products traded on this exchange vary from German and Swiss debt instruments to European stocks and various stock indexes. All tran ...

offering futures and options derivatives; Eurex Clearing central counterparty (CCP);

Clearstream Clearstream or the Clearstream Group is the central securities depository arm of the Deutsche Börse Group. It provides settlement and custody as well as other related services for securities across all asset classes. Its subsidiary in Luxembour ...

, the International Central Securities Depository (ICSD); commodities and FX trading platforms; and various IT, financial index providers, and analytics businesses. Freis served concurrently as the Chief Compliance Officer for the Clearstream Group holding company with about EUR 15 trillion in assets under custody.

Wirecard

On May 8, 2020, Wirecard AG, the payments processor and

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

provider based in Germany announced that effective July 1, 2020, James Freis would be joining as executive board member ("

Vorstand In German corporate governance, a ''Vorstand'' is the executive board of a corporation (public limited company). It is hierarchically subordinate to the supervisory board (''Aufsichtsrat''), as German company law imposes a two-tier board of d ...

"). Wirecard had faced criticism and allegations of accounting irregularities over the prior two decades as it grew globally, but that notwithstanding, by 2018 it had become a member of the DAX stock index of German blue chip companies. Wirecard was viewed as needing a "new start." Freis's appointment was described as part of a "comprehensive change" in the management board, and he would be responsible for a newly created department "Integrity, Legal and Compliance." Together with the announcement of Freis's appointment, then CEO Markus Braun apologized for past turbulence at Wirecard, and both he and chairman of the supervisory board, Thomas Eichelmann, described Wirecard's business model as "sustainable and highly profitable." On June 18, 2020, Wirecard announced Freis had joined the management board with immediate effect, earlier than his planned start date of July 1. Later that evening, Freis was introduced by Markus Braun in a video in which Braun announced that Wirecard might have been the victim of fraud in connection with its funds held in overseas bank trustee accounts. Working through the night to investigate, Freis quickly concluded that there was obvious fraud in the purported Wirecard accounts and in the morning informed the supervisory board. On June 19, 2020, Wirecard announced the resignation of Markus Braun as CEO and the appointment of James Freis, one day after being appointed to the management board, as interim CEO with sole power of representation. After working through the weekend in reviewing the company's business activities and finances, Freis wrote an announcement published by Wirecard in the early morning of Monday, June 22, 2020, that the bank trustee account balances in the amount of 1.9 billion

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

likely did not exist, and that previous Wirecard descriptions of its so-called third party acquiring business were not correct. Freis was in constructive discussions with Wirecard's lending banks and was considering restructuring options, yet from Thursday to Monday, Wirecard's stock price had lost 90% of its value. On June 25, 2020, less than a full week after having joined Wirecard, Freis decided to initiate

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

proceedings. Bank creditors of Wirecard had been willing to roll over credit lines for a period of months, and some initially criticized Freis for the decision to place Wirecard into insolvency, because they became forced to book losses immediately. A year later, the insolvency administrator had generated only about €600 million selling most of Wirecard's assets, against more than €3 billion in banks and bondholder claims, and over €14 billion of total claims filed in the insolvency proceedings. Freis continued to oversee day-to-day operations of Wirecard, and announced to staff on September 11, 2020, that he was stepping down from management at Wirecard. The Wirecard scandal is likened to a "''German

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

''" in light of the company's inflated financial accounts and failure of its

audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing al ...

ors to detect them and as the greatest financial fraud in modern German history. In September 2020, the German Parliament launched an investigation of Wirecard generating voluminous records through the June 2021 final reports. Opposition lawmakers characterized the Wirecard scandal as a “collective failure of supervision”, criticizing numerous government authorities, the board of directors, and auditors.

2021–present

More recently, Freis has founded a consulting firm advising on financial regulation and good governance.Was macht eigentlich der letzte Wirecard-Chef?
at Manager Magazin; by Katharina Slodczyk; published October 21, 2021; retrieved May 8, 2022 He is active with fintech and startup companies, including these affiliations: * Advisory Board o
Starling
a RegTech applied behavioral sciences technology company. * Co-founder and Chairman o
CRINDATA
offering financial institutions solutions for operational risk management to oversee outsourcing and third party service providers. * Advisor t
Moonpay
which serves as an on-ramp for customers to buy crypto, and is active in NFTs. * Regulatory Technology Officer t
FQX AG
a Blockchain startup in Switzerland, leading a project to compose programmable corporate debt offerings stored as NFTs on blockchain.

Memberships

As an attorney, Freis is a member of the

bar associations Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar *Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of ...

of New York,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

and the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. Current affiliations include: * The Committee on International Monetary Law of the

International Law Association The International Law Association (ILA) is a non-profit organisation based in Great Britain that — according to its constitution — promotes "the study, clarification and development of international law" and "the furtherance of international ...

(MOCOMILA) *

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

Membership Roster
at CFR.org; retrieved May 8, 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freis, James Living people 1970 births American chief executives Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Metuchen, New Jersey St. Joseph High School (Metuchen, New Jersey) alumni CFA charterholders American lawyers