Louis O'Neill

Appoints the 2004-2005 Class of White House Fellows] , Official White House Website] .

Before his diplomatic service, O’Neill served under Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morganthau [ [http://manhattanda.org New York County District Attorney's Office] , Manhattada.org ] as an Assistant District Attorney in the Special Prosecutions Bureau [ [http://manhattanda.org/organization/investigative/specialprosecution.shtml Special Prosecutions Office of New York] ] . After law school, he worked in the private sector as an attorney for White & Case, LLC [ [http://www.whitecase.com White Case Law Firm] ] and as General Counsel and Head of Business Development for an investment/venture capital fund in New York City.

Personal Background and Education

Louis O’Neill grew up in New York City and attended Hunter College High School [ [http://www.hchs.hunter.cuny.edu/index.php Hunter College High School] ] in Manhattan, from which he graduated in 1986. In 1990, O’Neill earned a Bachelor’s Degree with Distinction from Stanford University, where he was Co-Captain of the Stanford Cycling Team [ [http://www.stanford.edu/group/cycling/index.shtml Stanford Cycling Team] ] , leading it to 3rd place in National Competition. Later he completed a Master’s Degree at Stanford’s Center for Russian and East European Studies [ [http://www.amazon.com/Louis-O-Neill-Books-on-Slavic-Languages-and-Literature/lm/R3NT72M5T61YVM/ Books on Slavic Languages & Literature] , Amazon.com] [ [http://creees.stanford.edu/outreach/alumni.html CREES] CREES ] and graduated cum laude from the Harvard Law School [ [http://www.law.harvard.edu Harvard Law] ] in 1996.

Private Sector Work

Louis O’Neill joined the law firm of White & Case in 1997 and worked in the Litigation and Corporate Departments. His extensive pro bono work on behalf of New York’s indigent earned him the Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Award in 2000 [ [http://www.whitecase.com/news/detail.aspx?news=314 White Case News] ] . He also served as General Counsel and Head of Business Development for The Falconwood Corporation, an investment/venture capital fund in New York City.

Assistant District Attorney

In April 2001, O’Neill joined the New York County District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney in the Special Prosecutions Bureau. [http://www.louisoneill.com/Assistant%20Disctrict.aspx] He investigated and prosecuted numerous cases of white-collar and organized crime, frauds and scams. His most widely reported case involved a ring of women who would, for money, repeatedly marry foreign-born men to facilitate immigration fraud. One woman married 27 times in this way. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E6DF103DF933A25754C0A9659C8B63&scp=2&sq=cortes+saulny&st=nyt Here Comes the Bride. Again, and Again] , The New York Times ] [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2003-07-09.shtml ] [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2003-12-17b.shtml]

Another important case resulted in the take-down of an organized crime ring whose bankruptcy and auctioneering fraud resulted in at least $27.7 million in thefts from distressed businesses that were being restructured or liquidated. [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2004-02-17.shtml] , [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2003-11-12.shtml] O’Neill also investigated an explosion in a Chelsea manufacturing plant that injured dozens of people and closed West 21st Street. This case led to enhanced safety compliance in the industry. [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2004-03-24.shtml] Louis O’Neill specialized in tracking down elusive white-collar criminals on the lam, and brought number of them back to the United States to face prosecution, including a German man who defrauded hundreds of hotel patrons [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2003-08-08.shtml] and a Russian man who ran a fraudulent immigration law firm. [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2003-05-13.shtml]

Following the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the Special Prosecutions Bureau investigated and prosecuted nearly 200 cases of “electronic looting” against New York’s Municipal Credit Union. Each defendant stole at least $7,500 from the bank in the chaos following the attacks. O’Neill handled two dozen of these cases. [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2002-08-05.shtml] [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2003-06-18.shtml] He also handled smaller, highly emotional cases where vulnerable, elderly or mentally incapacitated victims were preyed upon for their money. [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2002-05-02a.shtml] [http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2004-06-17b.shtml]

White House Fellow

In 2004, Louis O’Neill was selected for the 2004-2005 class of White House Fellows. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/fellows/news/20040621.html] He was assigned to the State Department as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Special Assistant on Russian Affairs. He covered issues of counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics cooperation and also was tasked with special projects, including as the U.S. Expert for the OSCE Fact-Finding Mission to the Occupied Territories Surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, whose report he co-authored. [ [http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2005/sepoct/classnotes/oneill.html Stanford Alumni] ]

Policy Planning Staff

Upon completion of the White House Fellowship, O’Neill was asked to stay on at the US State Department in a non-political capacity as a member of the Policy Planning Staff, covering Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the countries of the Caucasus. [ [http://www.state.gov/s/p/58311.htm Office of Policy Planning] State.gov]

OSCE Ambassador and Head of Mission to Moldova

In 2006, Louis O’Neill was confirmed by the Belgian Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation as OSCE Ambassador and Head of Mission to Moldova. [ [http://politicom.moldova.org/stiri/eng/14646/ Louis O’Neill, Mission to Moldova] ] The OSCE Mission to Moldova’s Mandate calls for facilitating the achievement of a lasting, comprehensive political settlement of the Transnistrian conflict in all its aspects, as well as advancing human and minority rights, democratic transformation, freedom of the press and fighting the scourge of human trafficking. It also requires ensuring transparency of the removal and destruction of Russian ammunition and armaments from Moldova. [ [http://www.osce.org/moldova/13174.html OSCE ] ] Ambassador O’Neill pushed hard for fulfillment of this Mandate - which was approved by all OSCE participating States - and for reconciliation of the Moldovan and Transnistrian sides. He brought them together in a seminar on Confidence and Security Building measures in October 2007, on the margins of which the 5+2 negotiating format met for the first time in some 18 months. [ [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_27473.html OSCE Moldova Mission] ] O’Neill did much to encourage the sides to disarm, including providing financial aid for the destruction of surplus weapons [ [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_19994.html Moldova Mission] ] , and organizing seminars on proper storage and stockpile management. [ [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_26398.html OSCE Mission supports Moldova to improve safe storage of stockpile ammunition, small arms] ]

His efforts to improve Moldova’s human rights landscape and make it more attractive to the Transnistrian separatists included enhancing press freedoms, [ [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_22758.html OSCE Mission Head expresses deep concern about disruption of Chisinau radio station's broadcasting] ] , [ [http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/freedom_detail.html?country=/KW0001/KW0003/KW0072 International Press Institute on Moldova] ] [http://social.moldova.org/stiri/eng/31454/] [http://www.topix.com/world/moldova/2008/07/louis-oneill-moldova-mission] [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_23833.html] [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_23339.html] , defending the rights of opposition parties, [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_23609.html] , improving anti-torture legislation, [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_25689.html] , strengthening the rule of law and judiciary, [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_24098.html] , [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_24062.html] , protecting freedom of assembly, [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_27429.html] , and guarding the linguistic rights of schoolchildren in Transnistria. [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_22208.html]

Ambassador O’Neill devoted significant attention to improving elections throughout Moldova. This included marshalling the Chisinau diplomatic core to actively monitor the Gagauz Bashkan election in December 2006 [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_22251.html] and running an observation mission there, [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_21872.html] , [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_22400.html ] [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_22610.html] . He also played an active role in covering the Moldovan national local elections in June 2007, helping de-escalate a violent situation at a Moldovan polling place on the left bank of the Nistru. [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_24816.html] [http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=943234&lang=EN ] [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_25174.html] .O’Neill also placed a priority on battling gender violence and human trafficking, very serious problems in Moldova. [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_22002.html] [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_28254.html] [ http://www.topix.com/world/moldova/2008/07/louis-oneill-moldova-mission]

His activism and energy often drew the ire of Russia, which preferred to see a continuation of the status quo according to the International Herald Tribune and OSCE. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/11/news/letter.php Celestine Bohlen: Letter from Moldova] International Herald Tribune] , [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_23304.html] For example, as the OSCE Mission’s Mandate calls for respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Moldova, O’Neill refused to recognize the Transnistrian separatists’ “independence referendum” on September 17, 2006, which was labeled as rigged by Radio Free Europe and OSCE. [ [http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1071331.html Moldova: Transdniester Referendum Arouses International Criticism] , Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty]

This led to numerous attacks on him in the Russian and Transnistrian press. Similarly, when he was, in accordance with the Mandate, able to gain access for his Mission to the Russian arms depot at Colbasna, [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_22025.html] [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_22051.html] , the Russian-controlled Transnistrian side called for him to be made persona non grata. [http://www.louisoneill.org] After a major speech before the OSCE’s Permanent Council in Vienna in March, [ [http://www.wien-osze.diplo.de/Vertretung/wienosce/de/04/EU-Erkl_C3_A4rung_20O_27Neill_20en_20080307__ddatei,property=Daten.pdf STATEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN UNION] AT THE 655th MEETING OF THE OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL , March 2007 ] the Russian Federation began a propaganda attack against him using a fictitious “news” portal, [http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7258534 ] , which it later amplified using state-controlled media.

Despite these attacks, O’Neill continued to use creative approaches to bring the Moldovan and Transnistrian sides together. These included a very popular rock festival on the Nistru River with bands from both sides, [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_2_25948.html] , and a photo contest, [http://www.osce.org/moldova/item_1_27960.html OSCE Photo Contest]

Other Accomplishments

Louis O’Neill is a native English speaker and speaks fluent Russian and good Romanian. He was a Presidential Fulbright Scholar to the USSR in 1990-1991 and was awarded Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) grants at Stanford and Harvard for the advanced study of Russian. He gave numerous speeches while OSCE Ambassador in Moldova, with representative examples here [ [http://www.scribd.com/doc/4048783/Louis-ONeill-Speech-To-Moldovian-Parliament-Fall-2007 Louis O'Neill, Speech to Moldova Parliament] , Fall 2007] .

References

External Links

* [http://www.osce.org/ OSCE Website]
* [http://www.louisoneill.com Louis O'Neill Website]
* [http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=70900 Louis O’Neill Moldova Mission] , Webwire Press Release
* [http://www.slideshare.net/rexflay/louis-oneill-osce-mission-presentation/ Louis O'Neill Powerpoint, OSCE Mission]