Samantha Gillespie is a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s New York and Washington D.C. offices. Her practice focuses on complex commercial and financial litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and government and internal investigations, with particular expertise in cross-border disputes.
Samantha has significant experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes civil litigations and arbitrations. She has handled a wide variety of litigation – including financial frauds, securities litigation, contractual disputes, defamation, and intellectual property disputes – in federal and state courts across the United States, as well as in arbitral forums such as the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Samantha frequently represents clients at trial, including in both civil and criminal trials. Most recently, she second-chaired a nine-figure dispute including claims under both U.S. and Colombian law in the Southern District of New York.
In white-collar matters, Samantha has represented companies, boards of directors, and individuals in government and internal investigations across multiple continents and sectors, including the financial services, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, commodities trading, construction, and gaming sectors. She has defended clients against a broad range of allegations, including those relating to corruption (involving both the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-bribery regimes), money laundering, racketeering, wire and bank fraud, insider trading, sanctions evasion, and BSA/AML violations, among others. She has also represented clients in whistleblower cases and extradition proceedings.
Samantha, who is fluent in Spanish, is a member of the firm’s Latin America Practice. She routinely handles litigations and investigations that involve Latin America or the Spanish language, including managing disputes wholly in Spanish. In recognition of her accomplishments in cases relating to Latin America, Samantha was named by Latinvex as one of their “Top 100 Female Lawyers” in the FCPA & Fraud category in 2024, and a “Latin America Rising Legal Star” by Latinvex in 2022. She has also been recognized as The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch, Commercial Litigation, Criminal Defense: White-Collar.
Samantha received her law degree magna cum laude from New York University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif (the national honor society for law school graduates). Prior to attending law school, she worked as a white-collar analyst in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office where she managed large-scale, cross-border government investigations, including into U.S. and international sanctions evasion and tax evasion. She also helped establish the District Attorney’s Office’s first Conviction Integrity Program to re-examine closed cases involving claims of innocence and establish procedures to prevent wrongful convictions in new cases.
Government Investigations and White-Collar Defense – Select Experience:
- Represented two European financial institutions in the global investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and various international regulators into the payment of bribes by individuals associated with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”).
- Represented a European financial institution in connection with the global investigation concerning 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, one of the largest money laundering and corruption investigations in history involving authorities in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia and Luxembourg.
- Representing the board of directors of one of the largest publicly traded companies in Mexico in an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
- Represented a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company in an internal investigation into potential corrupt acts by its Mexican subsidiary.
- Represented a major online gambling company in connection with an investigation by a European regulator concerning potential misstatements about the company’s finances.
- Represented a former Honduran politician in connection with charges of money laundering and other alleged financial crimes brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and related proceedings involving the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
- Represented several Mexican politicians in connection with allegations of money laundering and other financial crimes.
- Represented an individual charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York with facilitating bribe payments to a former President of the United Nations General Assembly.
- Representing two agents of one of Latin America’s most important telecommunications companies in connection with a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into alleged bribe payments to foreign government officials.
Commercial Litigation – Select Experience:
- Represented a Colombian sugar manufacturer in a trial against Citibank in the Southern District of New York concerning complex financial products and claims worth over $100 million.
- Represented an international advertising and public relations firm at trial before the American Arbitration Association in an action concerning a failed music festival.
- Represented a prominent Mexican businessman against two major U.S. financial institutions in a FINRA arbitration and parallel state-court proceedings concerning fraudulent foreign exchange trading and misappropriated equity investments, alleging hundreds of millions in damages.
- Represented the largest online travel agency in Latin America in connection with a lawsuit alleging false and misleading business practices.
- Representing a Mexican soccer team in connection with claims against a major U.S. broadcaster relating to valuable television broadcasting rights.
- Representing one of the largest online casino and sports betting companies in Latin America in connection with claims relating to the misappropriation of trade secrets.
- Represented the majority shareholders of Grupo Aeroméxico S.A.B. de C.V., Mexico’s flag carrier airline, in connection with its restructuring and emergence from Chapter 11 proceedings.
Represented a Mexican oil services firm in Chapter 15 proceedings and related litigation
- Commercial Litigation
- Domestic U.S. Arbitration
- Government & Regulatory Litigation
- International Disputes
- Investigations, Government Enforcement & White Collar Criminal Defense Practice
- Investment Fund Litigation
- Latin America Practice
- Lender Liability & Other Banking Financial Institution Litigation
- Litigation Representing Plaintiffs
- Entertainment & Media Litigation
- Securities Litigation
- New York University School of Law
(J.D., magna cum laude, 2015)- Order of the Coif
- The State Bar of New York
- The District of Columbia Bar
- Spanish
- Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch, Commercial Litigation, Criminal Defense: White-Collar, 2024 and 2025
- Recognized by Latinvex: Top 100 Female Lawyers, FCPA & Fraud, 2024
- Recognized by Latinvex: Latin America Rising Legal Star, 2022