Stuart A. Levey was the first Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence within the United States Department of the Treasury. He was sworn in on July 21, 2004 as a political appointee of President George W. Bush. President Barack Obama asked Levey to remain in his position and Levey was one of only a small number of Senate-confirmed Bush appointees who served in the Obama Administration. After leaving the government, Levey joined the private sector as chief legal officer of HSBC, CEO of Diem Association and chief legal officer of Oracle.
Education and Career
Stuart Levey grew up in a Jewish family near Akron, Ohio, where his father had practiced dentistry. Levey attended Harvard College, graduating summa cum laude in 1986, and in 1989 he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. After law school, Levey clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1989 through 1990.
Prior to joining the Justice Department in 2001, Levey spent 11 years in private practice at the Washington law firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin LLP (which merged into Baker Botts LLP). He had a litigation practice with a special emphasis on white collar criminal defense.
Beginning in 2001, Levey served in several senior positions in the U.S. Department of Justice, including as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General for Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson and Deputy Attorney General James Comey. In that role, Levey was the Deputy Attorney General's primary advisor for coordinating the Department's counterterrorism and national security activities, including investigations, intelligence collection and prosecutions. Prior to serving in that role, Levey was an associate deputy attorney general and chief of staff to the deputy attorney general.
Levey was sworn in on July 21, 2004 as the Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the administration of President George W. Bush. President Barack Obama asked Levey to remain in his position and Levey was one of only a small number of Senate-confirmed Bush appointees who served in the Obama Administration. Levey served until March 2011. He was succeeded by David S. Cohen.
Levey played a central role in the efforts to combat North Korea's and Iran's allegedly illicit conduct in the international financial system.
In January 2012, Levey joined HSBC as the bank's Chief Legal Officer.
In August 2020, he became CEO of the Diem Association.
On November 10, 2022, Oracle Corporation announced that Stuart Levey has been named executive vice president and chief legal officer.
Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence
As the first Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), from July 2004, Levey was responsible for creating a new office to lead the Treasury Department's revitalized post-9/11 national security mission. Levey is credited with developing and executing financial strategies to counter threats to U.S. national security and protect the integrity of the international financial system. He has also been recognized for leading the U.S. government's efforts to disrupt financial networks supporting terrorist organizations; developing and implementing financial measures against proliferators of weapons of mass destruction; and playing a central role in U.S. strategies to pressure the regimes in North Korea, Iran and Libya. He is credited, in particular, with designing the financial strategy that resulted in tremendous pressure on Iran's economy and its isolation from the international financial system.
One of Levey's key initiatives was harnessing the private sector to enhance the effectiveness of government-imposed financial measures. He "led an effort to convince foreign banks to cease conducting business with Iran until that country agreed to comply with international banking standards. By showing companies and banks that doing business in Iran has financial and diplomatic repercussions, he has convinced corporations to cut off business with Iran." TFI's efforts received support from both Republicans and Democrats. Levey, an appointee of the George W. Bush administration, was asked to remain in his position by the Obama Administration.