Lawder, Fortis M.

Theresa Van Vliet concentrates her practice in White Collar litigation and related civil and compliance matters including international fraud and money laundering, consumer protection, mortgage industries, health care, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and general fraud offenses; USA Patriot Act of 2001 and Bank Secrecy Act; and matters relating to the imposition of economic sanctions by the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Ms. Van Vliet has extensive trial experience in both the prosecution and defense of white collar and complex litigation. During her tenure with the United States Department of Justice, she served as Chief of Narcotics and Senior Litigation Counsel, where she successfully tried over 40 federal jury trials including a fourteen month long Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) trial that resulted in convictions for all defendants. While serving as Chief of Narcotics, she oversaw national and international drug and drug money laundering policy, investigations and prosecutions, and dealt with national security classified information. Ms. Van Vliet also served as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Ms. Van Vliet was recognized for her outstanding performance by Attorney General Janet Reno and selected to assist on a special project involving terrorism. Additionally, she spearheaded an international investigation and prosecution of the highest echelons of Colombian-based money launderers and drug traffickers and received the Distinguished Service Medal for her work from the government of Colombia. Ms. Van Vliet is a recipient of the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service and the Drug Enforcement Administrator's Award for Exceptional Service.

Ms. Van Vliet is an active member of the American Bar Association and has been appointed to the ABA Business Law Section Committee on Corporate Compliance, Subcommittee on Compliance Investigations, Subcommittee on Document Retention and E-policies.

Ms. Van Vliet is a frequent lecturer on anti-money laundering compliance matters and has published an analysis of the USA Patriot Act of 2001 and its anti-money laundering provisions. She has also published updates to Moore's Federal Practice on matters involving charging documents in criminal cases and asset forfeitures.

Ms. Van Vliet is a member of the Florida Bar and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida; the United States Bankruptcy Courts for the Districts of Delaware and Southern District of Florida. She received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Nova Southeastern Law School in 1982 and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College.