Our People

Puneet
Kakkar

Managing Director & Senior Counsel, EMEA

Europe, Middle East & Africa | Paris office

+33 1 59 58 95 73

pkakkar@nardelloandco.com

Headshot of Puneet Kakkar

Puneet V. Kakkar has extensive international prosecutorial and diplomatic experience in cross-border cyber, corporate, and financial-crime and cryptocurrency investigations.

A former US federal prosecutor and diplomat, Puneet has worked in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, advising on and pursuing matters involving cybercrime, corruption, sanctions, money laundering, cryptocurrency, and transnational criminal enforcement. His career spans leadership roles within the US Department of Justice and includes long-term engagement with US and foreign prosecutors, investigating judges, regulators, and law enforcement agencies.

Puneet worked at the US Embassy in Paris, where, as Justice Attaché to France and Monaco, he was the principal liaison between US prosecutors and French and Monegasque judicial authorities, including the Prosecutor of Paris, the Parquet National Financier (PNF), National Anti-Organized Crime Prosecutor (PNACO), National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor (PNAT), and Public Prosecutor of Monaco.  In this capacity, he advised on a substantial portfolio of cross-border matters, including extraditions, regularly counseled senior Embassy leadership on high-profile subjects, and was a frequent speaker on panels involving US legal policy. He also served as the DOJ’s Resident Legal Advisor to the Gulf Region, working with counterparts in the Middle East on terror finance and cybercrime enforcement.  Prior to this, Puneet was an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles, where he tried cases to verdict, argued appeals before the Ninth Circuit, and supervised large, multi-defendant investigations with international dimensions. As a Deputy Chief, he oversaw and served as first-chair for complex prosecutions involving cryptocurrency money laundering, darknet marketplaces, cybercrime, international drug trafficking, tax fraud, customs and trade fraud, and sanctions-related conduct, including some of the Department of Justice’s earliest cryptocurrency-money-laundering cases.

Puneet began his career representing clients in business litigation, such as intellectual property infringement matters, then clerked for a federal judge. He is fluent in French and proficient in Hindi.

Representative matters

  • Prosecuted the operator of an unlicensed ATM network who was laundering millions of dollars of Bitcoin and cash.
  • Prosecuted executives of wholesalers and their affiliated corporations for participation in schemes to avoid tariffs, launder drug money, and avoid taxes.
  • Investigated and coordinated international disruptions of the network infrastructure that supports dark web marketplaces, ransomware services, and illicit cryptocurrency platforms and proxy networks.
  • Represented Obey Clothing in copyright litigation brought by the Associated Press relating to Shepard Fairey’s 2008 campaign poster of Barack Obama, leading to successful resolution of the dispute.
  • Advised entertainment companies on copyright and trade secret litigation and licensing disputes

Languages spoken

  • English (Fluent)
  • French (Fluent)
  • Hindi (Intermediate)

Education

  • University of California, Berkeley, J.D., Order of the Coif; Editor on California Law Review
  • University of California, Berkeley, B.A., Highest Distinction and Department Citation (Valedictorian)

Certifications

  • Admitted to the California State Bar