Youli Lee

Youli advises institutions confronting challenges involving regulatory compliance, institutional risk, and emerging governance structures across financial, technological, and policy domains. Youli brings deep experience at the intersection of financial crime, national security, and complex technology. Her experience is informed by her work on some of the most significant enforcement matters in the digital asset and cybercrime landscape.

As a federal prosecutor, Youli's work included many landmark investigations and prosecutions including: Welcome to Video (child exploitation cryptocurrency cases), Bitcoin Fog (precedent-setting, cryptocurrency-money laundering prosecution), Hydra Darknet Market (major darknet-marketplace takedown), and 1Broker (the first bitcoin-denominated securities trading platform). Youli's work also includes significant matters involving state-sponsored cyber activity and North Korean hacking operations, where digital assets, sanctions evasion, and illicit finance intersected with national security concerns.

Youli's work has been formally recognized with multiple honors, including the Department of Homeland Security Secretary's Unit Award (2019); the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Chief's Investigative Excellence Team Award (2020); and numerous Special Achievement Awards and U.S. Attorney's Office awards. Her team was also named a finalist for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal, one of the highest distinctions in public service.

In addition to casework, Youli contributes actively to the global regulatory and enforcement dialogue. She has been a featured speaker at the ACAMS and Europol forums, addressing financial crime, crypto assets, and regulatory risk. She is on the Steering Committee for the Cambridge Forum on Risk Regulation and Enforcement in Fintech, helping shape cross-border perspectives on supervision, enforcement, and emerging technologies.