Molly McKenna is an associate in the firm’s Government Investigations & White Collar Practice, based in Dubai. She previously worked in the London and Birmingham offices and is qualified in England and Wales.
Molly advises multinational corporates, financial institutions, intergovernmental organizations, private equity investors and ultra-high-net-worth individuals on a broad range of compliance, regulatory, investigations and financial crime matters. Her practice focuses on complex cross border investigations involving allegations of fraud, corruption, sanctions violations, financial misconduct, corporate governance failures and whistleblower complaints.
During these representations, she has successfully engaged with various regulatory and enforcement bodies, including the US Department of State and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and National Crime Agency (NCA).
Molly was also one of the youngest committee members of the Female Fraud Forum, a multidisciplinary organization operating in the civil and criminal fraud sectors.
Advising a Specially Designated National and Blocked Person (SDN) South Asian petrochemicals company and its ultimate beneficial owners in an internal investigation and with a request for reconsideration, seeking the rescission of their sanctions designations.
Conducting a comprehensive sanctions and anti-money laundering compliance assessment for a West Asian financial institution, including benchmarking against US, UK, EU, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and other international regulatory and industry best practices and standards, as well as advising on strengthening the institution's financial crime compliance framework and supporting the maintenance and expansion of its correspondent banking relationships.
Advising a Middle Eastern conglomerate in an internal investigation of whistleblower allegations involving corruption, procurement fraud and breaches of immigration legislation involving board members and key executives.
Advising the US subsidiary of a UK plc in an internal investigation into alleged financial mismanagement.
Conducting an internal investigation for an intergovernmental organization in response to whistleblower allegations of financial mismanagement, and preparing a report that was subject to scrutiny by multiple governance bodies within the organization and relied upon in its public response to the allegations.
Advising numerous clients in relation to the submission of suspicious activity reports and related Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) requests sought in the context of corporate and private equity transactions.
Advising confidential private investors in challenging an asset freeze amounting to more than US$1 billion, including investigating the underlying commercial trade from which the assets were derived and demonstrating that they are legitimate and not tied to any predicate offense or money laundering activity.
Advising confidential investors in a multijurisdictional effort to recover hundreds of millions of dollars and euros expropriated, based in part on unmeritorious source of wealth arguments, by the special administrators of a private bank that fell insolvent following a USA PATRIOT Act §311 designation.
Working in the large cross-practice team that is investigating the Brixton Academy crowd crush incident and dealing with the Metropolitan Police Service corporate manslaughter investigation, Operation Wickmar.
Advising a global technology and investment conglomerate on the identification and analysis of the environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related laws, regulations and standards applicable to its operations and appointed directors in six Middle Eastern jurisdictions.
Sir Henry Barber Prize for Top 5 Highest Degree Classifications
Speaker, Global Anti-Bribery and Corruption Update, e& Global Legal and Compliance Conference, Dubai (UAE), November 12, 2025.