Marcus Asner is co-chair of Arnold & Porter’s White Collar Defence and Investigations practice group. Before joining the firm, Mr Asner was an Assistant United States Attorney in New York, where he was Chief of the Major Crimes Unit for two years and served in the Public Corruption Unit. As a prosecutor, Mr Asner led the US prosecution of United States v. Bengis, one of the largest and most significant trafficking cases in history, which involved a massive scheme to import illegally harvested lobster from South Africa into the US.
Mr Asner presently works in private practice in New York, where he routinely counsels clients on a wide variety of environmental and wildlife trafficking issues, and writes and speaks frequently on international wildlife trafficking and corruption. In addition to serving on the Wildlife Justice Commission Council, Mr Asner has worked closely on wildlife trafficking issues with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Conservation Caucus Foundation and End Wildlife Crime. He has given training to Interpol and other law enforcement entities on wildlife trafficking, has testified on trafficking issues before the US House of Representatives, and has conducted briefings for the US Congress on wildlife trafficking and related issues. Mr Asner also led the Wildlife Justice Commission’s first Public Hearing on wildlife trafficking in Vietnam. He previously served on President Obama’s Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking, where he co-chaired the Subcommittee on Enforcement.