Megi Hakobjanyan
Director
Megi is an experienced open source researcher with expertise in cross-border investigations.
At Quinlan, Megi specializes in conducting and leading complex international investigations on FCPA and sanctions matters. She also works on disputes investigations related to white collar crime, crypto and asset recovery as well as pre-transactional due diligence for Quinlan’s institutional investor clients.
Previously, Megi led the Eurasia team of a global analytics firm that specializes in sanctions-related risk. She focused on unraveling complex ownership structures, typically spanning multiple jurisdictions, as well as identifying clients’ supply chain exposure to sanctions-related issues or military end users. Megi holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and is fluent in Russian and Armenian.
On behalf of an international media firm that was looking to collaborate with a prominent businessman in the Caucasus, Megi, conducted a due diligence investigation of the individual using public records in Georgian, Russian and English, and utilizing local contacts to gather critical insights on the individual’s reputation and connections to government officials.
On behalf of large financial institutions Megi led a team of investigators to uncover corporate structures of Russia’s largest energy firms each with thousands of subsidiaries spanning across multiple jurisdictions using primarily corporate records and local Russian-language media.
Megi provided investigative support to counsel of a U.S. company with global operations ahead of potential business transactions with companies in the entertainment and sports sectors to assess the identities of their ultimate majority owners/controlling parties, which were often hidden behind multi-tier, multi-jurisdictional complex corporate chains. This work included detailed reviews of Russian corporate records, regional and local media and other sources of information.
For a global manufacturing client, Megi conducted a detailed investigation of their local supplier in Belarus, and discovered through various regional procurement portals and other sources that the supplier had previously sold Western products to Russian military end users and sanctioned Belarusian SOEs.