Attorney Raj Parekh Named Inaugural Corporate Enforcement Chief at Bureau of Industry and Security

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has named Raj Parekh, a former trial attorney with DOJ’s National Security Division, to serve as its inaugural chief of corporate enforcement. In his new role, the Indian American lawyer will work closely with the Department of Commerce’s Office of Chief Counsel for Industry and Security and the Department of Justice to progress major corporate investigations, the BIS said.

Parekh joins the BIS “following its implementation of revised rules concerning voluntary self-disclosures and penalty guidelines, which encourage companies to report violations in exchange for incentives or reduced fines,” the agency noted.

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod said in a statement that Parekh’s appointment is “an important step forward in efforts to bolster the U.S. administrative enforcement program.”

Parekh most recently worked in United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA), where he served as Acting United States Attorney and for four years as First Assistant United States Attorney. He was the highest-ranking career (non-political) official in EDVA and led a staff of more than 300 federal prosecutors, civil litigators, and support personnel in a district that serves more than six million residents, according his BIS profile.

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Parekh’s previous work experience includes stints at the Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the CIA as well as IBM and an international law firm.