María González Calvet

María González Calvet serves as co-chair of the firm’s award-winning global anti-corruption and international risk practice and Latin America practice and is a former U.S. federal prosecutor and former in-house executive counsel of a Fortune 500 company. With a practice that spans two decades, María is recognized for her significant experience in multijurisdictional investigative and compliance matters involving allegations of corruption, money laundering, financial fraud, health care fraud, tax fraud, environmental violations, executive misconduct, and other alleged criminal and civil misconduct. María has represented clients in every significant business sector, including aerospace, health care and life sciences, energy, private equity and other investors.

María has conducted internal and government investigations in more than 40 countries around the globe arising from whistleblower complaints, escalations from audits, and other front-end monitoring, and benchmarking. María works closely with in-house counsel to conduct internal investigations and compliance reviews drawing on her past work in government and the corporate sector to help clients across industries, including aerospace, health care and life sciences, energy, private equity and other investors, and geographies. María works with clients to identify and mitigate risks and implement effective compliance programs.

María serves as a trusted advisor to clients seeking wide-ranging counsel on global and cross-border risk and has particular experience in the following areas:

Pre- and post-acquisition due diligence in high-risk markets, including for private equity investors

Multijurisdictional internal and government-facing investigations

Compliance program counseling

Jurisdictional questions and challenges that arise from coordinated prosecution by multiple enforcement authorities

Transactions and business dealings with government entities and financial institutions

Risks associated with cartels, transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), consortia and other partnerships

María is widely recognized as a thought leader in anti-corruption, particularly on risks and enforcement trends in Latin America. As one client noted to Chambers, “María has an incredible understanding of the cultural and legal nuances of Latin America. She is unbelievably collaborative and laser focused on solving the problem." María is quoted frequently in the press for her expert commentary and publishes a number of articles for well-known publications, including Law360, The Anti-Corruption Report and Latinvex. Notably, María has been a contributor to GIR’s Latin America chapter of “The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations” since 2021. María also regularly presents at major industry-leading conferences across the globe, collaborating with TRACE International, Transparency International, Global Investigations Review, Latin Lawyer, American Conference Institute, and the American Bar Association, and hosts webinars, roundtables, and podcasts on emerging issues in anti-corruption and compliance.

María also serves as a Steering Committee member of R&G Insights Lab, a differentiated solution for corporate governance and risk in complex business environments.

Prior to joining Ropes & Gray in 2018, María served as Executive Counsel, Global Investigations for General Electric where she led and managed government, regulatory and internal investigations for the company’s businesses across Latin America. Earlier in her career, she was a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, Fraud Section, and was a member of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit where she led some of the Department’s most important investigations. María is a native Spanish speaker and a fluent Portuguese speaker.