Leslie Devereaux Kuester

Manager

Treliant, LLC

Leslie Devereaux Kuester is a Manager with Treliant. She has 15 years of compliance experience in corporations, financial institutions, and government. Her expertise covers aspects of sanctions compliance programs including risk assessments, control development and implementation, due diligence, filter calibration, investigations, engagement with regulators, and associated reporting.

Prior to joining Treliant, Leslie was a Senior Manager at Boeing. There she worked to align the export control-related compliance program with requirements from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), developing a risk assessment, updating the global policy, and creating and delivering training for key professionals.

Previously, Leslie served as the Global Head of Sanctions and Interdiction for Western Union, where she oversaw the sanctions compliance program in close partnership with the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) program. Notably, she helped facilitate a favorable settlement with OFAC, which included the associated certification of compliance commitments as well as enhanced controls to mitigate risk associated with sanctions regimes globally.

Leslie began her sanctions career at OFAC, where she served as a Section Chief in the Sanctions Compliance & Evaluation division. There she oversaw outreach conducted via OFAC’s hotline, managed blocked assets reporting, and conducted outreach at events hosted by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), American Bankers Association (ABA), and Department of Commerce, among others. During her time with OFAC, Leslie served as a case officer for investigations of the financial sector including banks, credit unions, credit card companies, and broker-dealers, among others, which also involved managing public settlements that resulted in substantial financial penalties.

Leslie holds a master’s degree in U.S. Foreign Policy from American University and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame. She is also a Certified Global Sanctions Specialist (CGSS) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).