Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma is a federal criminal trial lawyer who defends complex, international prosecutions in American courts. The ZMO Law team represents clients in U.S. courts who are prosecuted based on their conduct in other countries ranging from South America to Mexico, Canada, China, Europe, and Africa. We often team with law firms and attorneys abroad who need advice on U.S. criminal law to resist extradition or respond to investigations. International prosecutions brought in U.S. federal courts raise unique issues and can be some of the most challenging, difficult and rewarding criminal cases our firm works on.
What kind of lawyer can handle an international case in U.S. courts?
Most–but not all–international prosecutions in the United States are brought in the federal courts, especially the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern District of New York. A lawyer qualified to represent clients in international cases must be comfortable with federal law and criminal procedure, including special considerations that arise in international cases like sovereign immunity, the “silver platter” doctrine, international extradition and treaty rules, international processes to gather evidence, and handling of classified evidence. In addition, native language skills or the ability to work with qualified translators (language experts) and other specialists is essential for both communication with clients and investigation of the facts of any particular case.
The ZMO Law team can handle international criminal cases efficiently because we have the specific skills and capabilities that lend themselves to this work.
Language abilities
Principal attorney Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma speaks fluent Spanish. Our paralegal team is bilingual in Spanish and English with native-level proficiency in both languages. We frequently work with Spanish-speaking investigators and represent both bilingual and monolingual Spanish-speaking clients.
But language skills do not end there. Mr. Margulis-Ohnuma also speaks French and has studied Arabic and Portuguese. More important than any particular language, Mr. Margulis-Ohnuma’s critical familiarity with language patterns allows him to identify the needs of international clients and ensure that qualified experts are on the team to help. For example, in a case that almost went to trial, other attorneys, the prosecutor and the judge were unable to identify Songhai, the native language of our client and his co-defendants, who also spoke a little French and Arabic.
Mr. Margulis-Ohnuma identified the language and brought in a uniquely qualified interpreter and investigator who was sensitive to both language and cultural considerations affecting our client. Finding the right language experts in international cases is essential to providing competent representation, even when clients can muddle through in their non-native languages.
Classified evidence handling
Many international cases, including prosecutions for controlled substances, material support of terrorism, large-scale frauds and other cases that implicate national security, involve evidence that has been classified by the U.S. government and must be handled according to the Classified Information Procedures Act or “CIPA,” which created detailed rules about how courts handle classified information and disclose it to the defense.
The first step in a CIPA case is to engage a defense attorney who has adequate security clearance to view and handle the documents at issue. Security clearance is a multi-step process the attorney must go through involving an extensive background investigation and training on handling classified information that is provided by a specialized office within the U.S. Department of Justice.
Two of ZMO Law’s attorneys have Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information (“SCI”) clearance, and therefore are permitted to manage the most sensitive classified documents in individual cases.
Security clearance, however, is not always enough to view classified information in criminal cases. In most CIPA cases, the government moves to hide all classified information from the defense and counsel must fight to articulate reasons that the information should be made available to them. Making a CIPA motion requires extensive investigation and review of non-classified material to convince a judge that classified documents–which the attorney has not seen–are essential to the defense case.
International criminal law experience
Most importantly, though, ZMO Law attorneys have experience working with clients whose conduct took place around the world, but were brought to U.S. courts to face prosecution. We have represented clients accused of fraud, terrorism, sex crimes, and drug smuggling based on conduct they engaged in overseas.
We frequently take cases to trial, and we prepare for trial in every case. In international cases, we file motions seeking discovery under the Classified Information Procedures Act, challenging jurisdiction, to dismiss charges, to obtain exculpatory evidence, and to exclude illegally obtained evidence, among others.
Here are some specific examples of our high-profile international cases:
- Pretrial and pre-extradition representation of Hugo Carvajal, the former head of Venezuela’s military intelligence service and a co-defendant of recently-captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma represented General Carvajal starting before he was extradited from Spain to the United States and until shortly before he pled guilty to drug and gun-trafficking charges in U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of New York. General Carvajal was first indicted in 2011 in the same case that led to the unprecedented rendition of Nicolas Maduro, the sitting president of Venezuela, in 2026.
- Trial and sentencing advocacy for China-born Prof. Shujun Wang. Prof. Wang was a historian who emigrated from Tsingtao Province to the United States in the 1990s. He became a leader in the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement, but traveled back and forth to China regularly in the 2000s. The U.S. government accused Prof. Wang of providing information about participants in the pro-democracy movement to the Ministry of State Security in China in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Mr. Margulis-Ohnuma represented Prof. Wang at a jury trial in 2024 in the Eastern District of New York. After Mr. Margulis-Ohnuma advocated for him at sentencing, the Hon. Denny Chin sentenced Prof. Wang to probation with no incarceration.
- Representation of Idriss Abdelrahman, a Malian accused of conspiring with Al Qaeda in 2009. Mr. Abdelrahman was lured to Ghana by U.S. authorities, taped by a confidential informant offering a lucrative drug deal, and irregularly rendered to the United States in a private jet chartered by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Based on errors in translations, the U.S. falsely accused Mr. Abdelrahman of working with Al Qaeda, a charge the judge ultimately found unsupported when she granted leniency at sentencing two years later.
- Trial, sentencing, and appeal for Alexander Zhukov, the alleged creator of Methbot. Mr. Zhukov, a Russian national, was arrested in a joint operation between Bulgarian police and the FBI in Sofia. He was charged with being the mastermind behind a notorious internet advertising fraud scheme known as Methbot that employed bots to provide non-human internet traffic. For the trial, our team engaged a Russian-speaking attorney and an expert on internet advertising markets. We interviewed witnesses abroad through secure channels and one of the trial witnesses testified from Africa.
Hiring a lawyer for an international investigation or prosecution
If you are under investigation by U.S. authorities for conduct abroad, you or your attorney should consult with or hire an American lawyer with international experience as soon as possible.
A wide range of conduct abroad comes within the reach of the U.S. Department of Justice, Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal law enforcement agencies. While local diplomatic arrangements might provide some protection, U.S. government investigators aggressively use available processes and partner with in-country law enforcement to prosecute drug crimes, fraud, terrorism, sex crimes, and more.
The earlier you or your local lawyer consults with a U.S. federal lawyer, the better chance you have at protecting your rights in American courts. ZMO Law PLLC is available to discuss extradition, voluntary surrender, Interpol processes, U.S. court processes and other matters with people concerned about American law enforcement contact directly or with their attorneys.