Sebastiaan has extensive experience in advising and assisting (multinational) companies when do-ing business in sanctioned countries, including Cuba, Iran, Syria and Russia. Sebastiaan also has successfully represented his clients in administrative, criminal and private law matters and related procedures in the area of sanctions and export controls. He also frequently assists his clients with their trade compliance related issues and is very experienced in conducting internal (fraud)investigations, preparing voluntary disclosures and assisting clients in matters initiated by national and international authorities (VS, UK, EU en NL).

Sebastiaan has advised a number of major (including publicly listed) offshore companies and (multi)nationals on EU and US sanctions compliance and assisted them with successfully re-entering the Iranian market. In addition, Sebastiaan has assisted an international operating communication systems company with a voluntary self-disclosure before the national reg-ulatory authorities. Sebastiaan has also advised a major international carrier in a criminal investigation for exports to Saudi Arabia without the required export licenses. His recent work includes advising one of the largest international drone companies in the world on the implementation of a compliance policy and providing transaction advice relating thereto. Sebastiaan has extensive experience in respect of transactions relating to Russia and various African countries.

Sebastiaan is an esteemed speaker at national and international conferences in the field of trade laws. He also frequently lectures, provides (in-house) training and publishes in legal literature, news-papers and magazines. Sebastiaan is regularly quoted in newspapers, and often appears on tv and radio shows.

Before founding BenninkAmar, Sebastiaan was a partner at Wladimiroff, and also at B&A Law, the first Dutch boutique firm specialising in economic sanctions laws and export control legislation. Prior to that, Sebastiaan worked at the Regulatory and Criminal Enforcement department of De Brauw Blackstong Westbroek, the Netherlands’ largest law firm.