Frances McLeod

Founding Partner
Associée Fondatrice
Washington DC
email
+1 401 714 6815

Biography

Frances McLeod is a Founding Partner of FRA. She is a former investment banker and has over 28 years of experience advising diverse clients on sanctions, anti-corruption, fraud, internal control, asset tracing, and money laundering issues. She is ranked among the top 100 FCPA Practitioners by Global Investigations Review and recognized by Lexology Index as an industry leader in its Investigations, Consulting Experts, Thought Leader and Global Elite publications, where she is described as a “highly respected expert” and “creative and extremely easy to work with.”

Frances has been deeply involved in all of FRA's compliance monitorship work. She is currently serving as the DOJ-appointed independent compliance monitor in two separate monitorships: Balfour Beatty Communities LLC, and FCA US LLC, an automobile manufacturer that pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Labor Management Relations Act. Frances has also extensively supported numerous US DOJ and SEC FCPA and fraud-related monitorships, including the recently certified IAV GmbH (an automotive engineering firm that pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud US environmental regulations), a New York Department of Financial Services monitorship, the City of Ferguson monitorship, and a PCAOB monitorship.

She led the team providing technical advice to the Asia Pacific Group on money laundering under a mandate from the Asian Development Bank and has provided expert advice in terrorism financing litigation cases. She served as an expert witness on counter terror financing in litigation involving an international bank and led FRA’s UN Oil-For-Food (OFF) investigation work, including an analysis of the function of the OFF escrow account managed from New York by a global bank.

Frances has extensive experience in addressing complex international data transfer issues whether in regulatory investigations or cross border litigation. She led the FRA team responding to anticorruption investigation data requests in all jurisdictions for Alstom in the US, the UK, Brazil, Indonesia, Poland, Sweden, etc., which included addressing French data privacy and Blocking Statute issues. She is leading FRA’s GDPR compliance initiative leveraging FRA’s decades of experience in addressing data protection issues in cross-border litigation and investigation. An Oxford graduate, Frances was responsible for the design and implementation of claim evaluation and administration systems for the USD 1.3b Swiss Bank and USD 2.5b German Slave Labor Holocaust settlements.

Frances speaks English, German, French, and Mandarin Chinese. Prior to co-founding FRA in 1999, Frances worked in the mergers and acquisitions divisions of Lazard and Schroders in London and HSBC in Indonesia. She holds a master’s degree from Wadham College, Oxford.

Authority experience

New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS)
US Department of Justice (DOJ)
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Serious Fraud Office (SFO)
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG)

Awards & Recognition

2024 Thought Leader - GIR - Investigations Forensic Accountants, Lexology Index

2023-2024 Thought Leader - USA - Experts - Forensic Accountants, Lexology Index

2023-2024 Thought Leader - USA - Investigations Forensic Accountants, Lexology Index

2022-2023 Global Leader - Consulting Experts - Forensic Accountants, Lexology Index

2021-2022 Global Leader - Investigations Forensic Accountants, Lexology Index

2019-2022 Thought Leader - Investigations Forensic Accountants, Lexology Index

2021 Top FCPA Practitioners, Global Investigations Review

2018 Women in Investigations, Global Investigations Review

Accreditations

No items found.

Languages

English
German
French
Mandarin

News and insights

News

FRA Shortlisted for GIR Awards 2024

News

FRA’s Frances McLeod and Masako Asaka Feature in 2024 Lexology Index Thought Leaders – USA

News

FRA Senior Leaders Recognized in WWL Thought Leaders – GIR - Investigations Forensic Accountants and Digital Forensic Experts