Advises on anti-money laundering and sanctions regulatory compliance matters.

Melissa advises banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, funds, insurance companies and money services businesses, including those involved in global e-commerce and virtual currency, on the anti-money laundering and sanctions regulations, rules, and related issues governing their investment and business activities.

She has particular experience with issues arising out of the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act, the AML Act of 2020, and the Corporate Transparency Act.

Before joining McDermott Will & Schulte, Melissa was an attorney-advisor with the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). At FinCEN, she assisted in the development of anti-money laundering regulations and guidance and served as counsel on enforcement actions involving issues such as failure to implement and maintain an adequate anti-money laundering compliance program, failure to register as a money services business and failure to maintain confidentiality of suspicious activity reports.

In recognition of Melissa’s significant accomplishments during her Treasury career, Melissa received the Secretary’s Meritorious Service Award, which honors individuals whose achievements are substantial and significantly advance the Treasury Department’s mission.

She is recognized as a “Rising Star” in Washington DC Super Lawyers.

Nishi Gupta is a regulatory advisor to cryptocurrency and blockchain companies. He has more than a decade of experience leading legal and compliance teams at a digital bank, FinTech companies, financial services corporations, and software companies. Prior to joining the firm, Nishi was the general counsel and chief compliance officer at a leading FinTech bank.

Leveraging his significant regulatory, financial technology, and crypto industry experience, Nishi provides strategic counsel to companies and individuals on matters ranging from money transmission licensing, payment regulation, and financial crime compliance, to advising on token launches, stablecoin issuance, decentralized finance applications, and getting novel crypto products out into the market quickly and compliantly. In addition, Nishi has significant industry operations experience, including leading and managing transaction monitoring, rule development, financial crime investigations, sanctions compliance, and compliance data and technology development teams.

As a member of the industry’s only crypto-exclusive team whose members spend 100% of their time on crypto-related matters, Nishi combines his regulatory knowledge with on the ground industry experience to provide actionable and practical counsel.

An active board member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) New York Chapter, Nishi has also presented on crypto anti-money laundering and other compliance topics at several ACAMS events. He began his career as an investigative analyst in the Investigation Division of the New York County District Attorney’s Office.

Adam J. Barazani advises fintech companies and private equity firms in complex transactions, regulatory compliance, and enforcement matters across the payments industry. He has advised on matters involving e-commerce platforms, cross-border and domestic money transmitters, B2B and commercial payments providers, rewards and prepaid card programs, payroll solutions, digital wallets, cryptocurrency exchanges, and emerging payments companies.

Adam guides clients on state-by-state licensing and regulatory frameworks, product development and structuring, and ongoing compliance obligations. In that capacity, he advises on money transmission licensure, multistate reporting, financial regulatory requirements, commercial lending and merchant cash advance regulation, and the rollout of new payments and lending products.

He has significant experience with acquisitions, investments, and internal restructurings involving payments companies, including matters requiring complex and creative structuring to address state change-in-control filing requirements and investor ownership thresholds. In this role, Adam conducts regulatory diligence and helps lead change-in-control processes on a nationwide basis in connection with high-value M&A and strategic investments in the fintech and payments sectors.

James A. Cannatti III advises healthcare, technology, and life sciences organizations on complex regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters at the forefront of the evolving healthcare ecosystem. His practice spans digital health and health information technology (IT) policy, fraud and abuse compliance, and emerging regulatory risk areas, including in the diagnostics, life sciences services, research, pharmacy, and distribution space.

James counsels healthcare providers, diagnostics companies, health IT developers, and life sciences services and research companies on compliance with federal healthcare requirements, including the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, and EKRA. He also represents clients in internal investigations and enforcement matters, drawing on his deep experience with government expectations and enforcement priorities to provide practical, regulator-informed guidance on navigating enforcement risk and regulatory change.

James’s advisory work frequently addresses cutting-edge regulatory topics and developments, including:

• Fraud and abuse risk and enforcement trends involving healthcare providers, diagnostics, laboratory services, and life sciences companies
• Internal investigations and responses to government inquiries involving the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG)
• Compliance with the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, and the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 in complex commercial arrangements
• Digital health enforcement and compliance risks, including remote patient monitoring and telehealth
• Information blocking and interoperability requirements under the 21st Century Cures Act
• Health IT certification, APIs, and data-sharing obligations

Before entering private practice, James spent more than a decade at the OIG, where he held a range of roles, including serving as its first Senior Counselor for Health Information Technology. In that role, he worked on the development, interpretation, and enforcement of federal healthcare policy affecting providers, health IT developers, and other industry stakeholders.

While in law school, James served as a managing editor of the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution.

Leads McDermott’s AdTech and Data Monetization group, combining practical business advice with deep technical experience

Advises on cutting edge issues spanning AI, digital health, connected vehicles, fintech, biometrics, advertising, and other complex topics

Draws on Chief Privacy Officer secondment to design and operationalize global privacy programs, including a library of easy-to-implement materials

Leads McDermott’s AdTech and Data Monetization group, combining practical business advice with deep technical experience

Advises on cutting edge issues spanning AI, digital health, connected vehicles, fintech, biometrics, advertising, and other complex topics

Draws on Chief Privacy Officer secondment to design and operationalize global privacy programs, including a library of easy-to-implement materials

Heather Cooper focuses her practice almost exclusively on federal income tax issues within the renewable and transitional energy industry. She has substantial experience advising clients on federal energy tax credits, including the investment tax credits (Sections 48 and 48E) and production tax credits (Sections 45 and 45Y). Additionally, Heather’s real-time analysis, webinars and client updates on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA) have made her a go-to authority in the post-OBBBA world.

Her breadth of experience spans many technologies and tax incentives, including solar and wind (Sections 45, 48, 45Y and 48E), storage, fuel cell, hydrogen (Sections 48 and 45V), biomass, offshore, refined coal, hydro, waste, biogas, nuclear (Section 45U), renewable natural gas (Sections 48 and 45Z), manufacturing (Sections 45X and 48C), carbon sequestration (Section 45Q) and electric vehicles (Sections 30B, 30C, 30D, 45W and 48C).

Heather advises clients on all structures available for monetizing energy tax credits, including tax equity partnerships (flips, inverted leases and leasebacks), self-monetization and portfolio structures. In January 2023, she worked on two of the first-ever successful credit transfer transactions (Section 6418) and continues to provide significant support to clients conducting credit transfers, including in connection with tax equity partnerships. She also advises clients on direct pay provisions (Section 6417). Heather’s energy tax practice includes mergers, acquisitions, financings, sales, dispositions, restructurings, workouts and other general tax advice (including corporate, consolidated and partnership taxation). She negotiates power purchase agreements, EPCs, supply agreements, leases, service contracts, contracts for difference, swaps, hedges and other offtake agreements to ensure compliance with the tax credit rules.

Heather is deeply knowledgeable on tax credit bonuses, including domestic content, energy community and low-income adders, and has advised innumerable clients on the monetization of these incentives. She also provides significant support to clients who are establishing prevailing wage and apprentice programs in connection with the credits. She regularly counsels clients on begin construction rules (including the physical work test and the 5% safe harbor, as well as continuous efforts), and fair market valuation issues. Since 2025, Heather has devoted much of her practice to new rules regarding foreign entities of concern, prohibited foreign entities, effective control restrictions and material assistance requirements, as well as tax credit repeals.

Her clients include a wide range of stakeholders in the energy sector, including developers, investors, financial institutions, utilities, independent power producers and insurance companies. The projects she works on range from residential, distributed, commercial and industrial to community solar and utility. She also counsels clients with no previous experience in the renewables sector with respect to their purchase of tax credits under section 6418. Heather works regularly across from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on ruling requests, taxpayer comments and other tax controversies relating to energy tax issues.

Heather is a highly experienced tax lawyer who understands the business needs of the industry. Her clients turn to her because she looks for solutions rather than problems. Her philosophy is to facilitate energy transactions by efficiently responding to each client’s individual needs, and she understands that tax planning should support a deal, not impede it.