TRM Talks: Crypto Regulation and Enforcement in Latin America

María Celeste Plee has a diverse and extensive work experience in compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) roles. María Celeste currently works at Bitso as the Director of Compliance, and prior to that, they held the position of Head of Compliance at the same company. María Celeste also has experience at Brubank as the Head of AML & Compliance, where they worked for a year and eight months. Before that, they worked at Banco de la Nación Argentina as an Asesora de Directorio and Coordinadora de Prevención de Lavado de Activos y Financiamiento del Terrorismo. María Celeste also has experience at the Unidad de Información Financiera (UIF) as the Jefe de Gabinete and later as the Directora de Supervisión. Additionally, they served as the Director Ejecutivo at FININT - Fundación de Investigaciones en Inteligencia Financiera, and they worked as a Project Manager at the NYU Langone Medical Center. María Celeste holds an LL.M. Graduate degree from Columbia Law School. At the beginning of their career, María Celeste worked as an Associate at MARTEAU and Marteau Abogados / Attorneys at Law, where they focused on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing actions, provided legal advice to financial institutions, and supervised risk-based evaluations. María Celeste also worked as a Research Manager at the Foundation for research on Financial Intelligence (FININT), providing legal advice and training on AML/CTF to the private and public sectors.

María Celeste Plee obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Law from Columbia Law School in 2012-2013. María Celeste then pursued a degree in Culinary Arts at the French Culinary Institute from 2013-2014. Prior to that, they completed their law degree (Abogada / Lawyer) at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina 'Santa María de los Buenos Aires' from 2003-2008. Additionally, they also returned to Columbia Law School for another LL.M. degree, although the specific dates are not mentioned.

Mariano Federici is a senior managing director at K2 Integrity, resident in the firm’s Washington, DC office. He is a leading global expert in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) and has more than 25 years of experience in government, international institutions, and the private sector. Mariano advises clients, including governments and financial institutions, on complex sanctions, regulatory compliance, fraud investigation, and risk management matters. He helps clients design, establish, and maintain strong and effective financial intelligence units (FIUs); evaluate and enhance their existing AML/CFT policies and procedures; add advanced data management and analytics capabilities to assess and manage more complex financial and commercial risks; and implement new programs to ensure regulatory compliance.

A central actor in the development of the international AML/CFT framework, Mariano has worked in partnership with jurisdictions and government agencies to ensure those regimes meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) global standards. He has successfully managed public sector institutions and exercised leadership at the national, regional, and global levels, making important contributions to promoting financial integrity in the international financial system. Mariano has approached the subject of financial integrity from the policy development, technical assistance/capacity building, and operational perspective as well as from country-, regional-, and global-specific standpoints, giving him a broad perspective on the topic, its challenges, and its opportunities.

Mariano demonstrates key expertise across both public entities and private institutions. He served as head of Argentina’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), during which time he held numerous international positions at global AML/CFT organizations, such as chair of the Egmont Group of FIUs; regional representative for the Americas at the Egmont Group; chair of FATF’s Heads of FIU Forum; Co-chair of FATF’s Risk, Trends, and Methods Working Group (RTMG); and co-chair of the Grupo de Acción Financiera de Latinoamerica (GAFILAT) Mutual Evaluations Working Group.

Prior to his time at Argentina’s FIU, Mariano worked as senior counsel for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) legal department and as regional advisor for the organization’s legal department in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing in both cases high-level policy, legal, and technical advice on financial integrity issues to IMF member countries as well as to the organs and staff of the fund. He also worked as a foreign associate in Sullivan & Cromwell’s New York office and as partner and associate for leading Argentine law firms.

Mariano has directed postgraduate degree programs in the area of financial integrity at the School of Business of the Catholic University of Argentina and the Law School of the Catholic University of Salta. He has also lectured as a regular and visiting professor at various universities across the world. Mariano is an active promoter of financial integrity within civil society and has exercised several key roles in this area in civil society organizations.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mariano is a citizen of Argentina and Italy. He holds a J.D. from the Catholic University of Argentina and an LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law.