Attorneys

Victor Comras serves as special counsel to the Law Offices of Comras & Comras, P.A. He led the State Department’s foreign policy trade control and sanctions programs for nearly a decade. He retired from the State Department in 2001 with the permanent rank of Minister Counselor. In May 2002 he was appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to serve as one of five international monitors charged with overseeing and reporting to the Security Council on the implementation of measures to be taken against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

His Diplomatic Career extended over three decades. In 1999, Secretary Madeleine Albright put him in charge of developing an international sanctions program on Serbia aimed at isolating, and bringing down, the Slobodan Milosevic regime. Secretary Colin Powell, in 2000, asked Mr. Comras to develop plans to revamp and re-invigorate sanctions against the Saddam Hussein regime. He also served as the State Department’s point-man on sanctions related to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Haiti, Cuba and North Korea, and other crisis areas. In 1996 he was invited to serve as Diplomat in Residence at the University of Pittsburgh where he taught graduate courses on sanctions, diplomacy and U.S. foreign policy.

In 1994 Mr. Comras was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the first U.S. envoy to the Republic of Macedonia. His other diplomatic assignments included postings in Africa, Europe and Canada, and at the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union and COCOM. He served as the first State Department Coordinator for the Restitution of World War II (Holocaust) assets.

Victor Comras has pursued a public service career in international law and diplomacy. He continues to maintain close contact with relevant U.S. and foreign regulatory agencies and advises clients on issues related to the formulation, implementation and enforcement of measures and laws at the international and country level. He also provides invaluable perspective and advice to financial institutions, companies, sovereign governments, international organizations, and other clients on a variety of international financial and trade matters and their attendant political considerations. He is a noted guest lecturer and authority on trade embargoes and economic sanctions, and on terrorism and terrorism financing and is regularly invited to testify before Congress on these issues. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Newsday, The Houston Chronicle and numerous other national and international press and professional journals. He is also quoted regularly on radio, television and other news media in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.

Mr. Comras is a practicing Attorney and member of the Florida Bar. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the University of Florida Law School. He also holds a Master of Laws in International Law from Harvard Law School. He joined the US State Department and Foreign Service in 1966. He is the recipient of 10 Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State and of the Council of Europe’s President Medal. Victor D. Comras is a leading expert and lecturer on using sanctions to deal effectively with Irans nuclear weapons ambitions, and on sanctions, export controls and global effort to combat terrorism & terrorism financing. He advises clients on compliance issues related to restrictions on Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea and on OFAC, Patriot Act and Bank Secrecy Act Regulations. He also advises financial institutions, companies, sovereign governments, international organizations, and other clients on international financial and trade matters and international political risk mitigation.